


Bring Your Heart Back to My Island

by flinchflower, nubianamy



Series: The Donutverse [26]
Category: Glee
Genre: Babies, Birthday, Competition, Complicated Relationships, Dancing and Singing, Discipline, Dom/sub, Donutverse, Episode: s01e22 Journey to Regionals, Family Drama, Fatherhood, Goodbyes, M/M, Multi, Non-Sexual Slavery, Polyamory, Schmoop, Secret Relationship, Singing Finn's Favorite Songs, Teenage Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-04 01:48:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 46,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2904833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flinchflower/pseuds/flinchflower, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nubianamy/pseuds/nubianamy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the family deals with Beth being born a month early, Adam, Angela, Dave and Puck each prepare to take their own journeys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published as chapters 49-53 of The Fingers of Your Fire. 
> 
> Set just before, during and after episode 1.22 Journey to Regionals. This story follows Of All My Demon Spirits, I Need You the Most and parallels There's an Awful Lot of Breathing Room.
> 
> You can listen to the 8track playlist for Fingers of Your Fire [here](http://8tracks.com/nubianamy/the-fingers-of-your-fire) (part of the enormous FoYF one is still [on YouTube here](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc72s_nGT2yT62f9-u6XxCAAE_VjrOVen), although people keep deleting the videos I link to!). I will also include links to all songs throughout the story, for reference.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burt and Carole get a call from Tess. Emma says goodbye to Ken, tells Will about Carl, and has a disturbing conversation with Puck. Kurt and Finn deal with both Matt and Dave on the eve of Coach Tanaka's departure. Finn talks with Carl about three important things. Frances and Sarah talk about Charlotte's Web.

 

Burt would never have told Puck, or any of the other kids, that he was unhappy about moving out of his office to make room for Puck and the baby. But it was obvious to Carole that he was pretty grumpy about his desk being in his bedroom. She smiled to herself, listening to him bang his elbow on the edge of the desk as he fit himself into the tiny space allotted.

"We can still turn it around so you're facing the wall," she said, not looking up from her knitting.

"I don't want to face the wall," he insisted irritably. "This is fine."

"Suit yourself." The house phone rang, and Burt had to stand up to reach it. There was another banging noise, and a muffled swear. "Burt Hummel." His voice abruptly changed. "Tess! What a surprise."

Carole continued to knit with one ear to Burt's conversation, but he simply sat there, listening, for a good long while.

"I - I don't even know what to say." He was smiling. "That's a really generous offer."

Now he had Carole's full attention. She set her knitting down and walked downstairs to pick up the second receiver, bringing it back upstairs as she switched it on. She heard Tess's calm alto voice clearly.

" _... I've spent a great deal of time thinking it over, Burt."_

"I just know how busy you are. It's not something I would feel comfortable asking you to do."

"Hi, Tess," Carole interjected. "I hope you don't mind me joining your conversation."

" _No, this is better, to speak with both adults. I've spent quite a long time considering young master Noah, and his situation, and I've discussed it with James and Stephen, as well as my father. I'd like to offer my assistance, both professional and personal."_  Tess' voice sounded unusually gruff.  _"I'd be happy to come down to help out, when the baby's born. "_

"Oh!" Carole made eye contact with Burt across the room, and saw him nod at her.

" _Now, what I was about to tell your protesting partner is that Stephen and I have been training a young man who is on loan to us from another club, and he needs to be able to solo for oa few weeks, you see. It's quite necessary for me to be absent at this point, usually I'd just go out to visit my Father in California, but..."_

"You'd be very welcome to visit any time, Tess," Carole said, watching Burt relax in his chair. "But, I'm sorry, we wouldn't be able to offer you accommodations. It's already pretty crowded around here."

" _I'm certain I can find something comfortable,"_  she said wryly.  _"Carl has some lovely guest rooms. We can finalize details as we get closer to the due date. Just consider the offer to be on the table."_

They exchanged pleasantries until it became clear that Tess needed to go. Burt set the phone back in its cradle, letting out a bemused sigh.

"That takes care of one big concern."

"You mean what's going to happen to the baby while Puck is finishing his school year?" Carole stood and came over to stand beside the desk, reaching over to take his hand. "You think he'll tolerate somebody else caring for her during the day?"

"I think he'll do anything Tess says," Burt said, with a quick smile. "She's not  _the baby_  anymore, you know. Don't you think we should start calling her Beth?"

"I think when Puck does, I will." She leaned over and kissed him. "You didn't mention anything to Tess about the house."

"Let's finalize that before we start making it public knowledge, all right? We still have a few hurdles to jump before it's a sure thing." Burt's face went thoughtful. "Pretty soon, we'll have enough rooms for everybody - and guests."

"I think that's the point," she agreed. "One of them, anyway. But that was really wonderful of Tess, wasn't it? I'm not sure how we lucked into ending up with her as a fairy godmother to these boys."

"We're going to end up inviting her to Christmas this year. Well… who knows what'll be happening by the time December rolls around." He shrugged. "Beth will be crawling by then."

She grinned at him. "Are you going to have her call you  _grandpa?"_

"I'll stick with Tatenui," he said firmly. "She'll have an aunt and three uncles under eighteen. I think I'm not quite ready for Grandpa yet. But you be my guest, if you want to be Nana Carole."

"Oh, I like that!" She clasped her hands excitedly. "Nana Carole. That's perfect."

He shook his head, kissing her. "I knew you were a little crazy."

* * *

Emma steeled herself before taking the last few steps to carry her into Ken's office. She stood there for more than ten seconds before he looked up from sorting the pile of football equipment and met her gaze. She was sure she must look… well,  _something,_  because he flinched away immediately.

"Come to gloat?" he said gruffly.

"Not at all," she said. She folded her hands and kept her distance. "I wanted to say goodbye, and… and that I wish you all the best."

He snorted a humorless laugh. "You never were a good liar, Emma."

"I'm not lying," she protested. "I don't have any hard feelings. And you know why?"

He eyed her suspiciously, his eyes red-rimmed and defeated. "Because you won?"

"Because you helped me see that I  _can_  have things for myself." She was not going to let Ken derail her speech. He deserved to hear it. "That I deserve to know what I need, and to ask for it. I'm only sorry I hurt you in the process."

"Em, you didn't hurt me. Not really." Ken looked over at her. "We were both avoiding what we really wanted. It was never going to be enough for either of us. I'm lucky you were willing to say something."

It didn't hurt to hear him say it, either. In fact, it was a relief. She gave him a small smile. "I'm not judging you, Ken, I hope you know that. But I hope you can find a way to fix this. For yourself… and for Matt." She shook her head, withdrawing from the room, but not before she saw his face crumple.

Matt certainly didn't deserve this. If they'd still been friends, in any capacity, Emma might have yelled at him about  _just how illegal_  it was to get involved with one of his students, but she guessed losing his job and his license would be punishment enough. It was Matt she was more worried about. When she'd met with him, in her role as guidance counselor, he'd still been holding onto hope that he and Ken could work things out. What things, she didn't exactly know, but considering the Rutherford family was moving to another state and would certainly be blocking all contact between the two of them, she doubted that was possible — at least until he turned eighteen.

It was in this sad, contemplative frame of mind that she found herself when Will knocked on her office door.

"Will," she said in surprise. He looked at her imploringly, closing the door behind himself.

"Did you hear the news? Sue is one of the judges for regionals this year. She's going to do everything she can to destroy us." He began to pace back and forth across her office, his face a picture of consternation. "I can't believe this. I tried to throw them a party last night to select our setlist, but everyone was so sad, they couldn't do anything but talk about all the things they love about Glee club. It took everything I had not to cry. It's like they've all walked a thousand miles just to get punched in the stomach."

"What exactly are you looking for from me here?"

He sighed. "Some guidance?"

She cocked her head to one side, regarding him. "Do you remember when you were going to quit teaching and become an accountant, and I showed you that video of yourself singing at Nationals, and you said that that was the happiest moment of your life? Do you remember why?

Will nodded. "Because I loved what I was doing."

"And isn't that what you've been drilling into their heads all year? That that feeling is way more important than winning or losing?"

He looked closely at her, then laughed ruefully. "I miss you."

 _I miss you too,_  she wanted to say, but it would have been irresponsible, in the midst of giving him guidance. Instead, she said, "I'm seeing someone."

That definitely threw him. "What?"

"His name's Carl. Carl Howell." Considering she hadn't realized she was even ready to tell Will that much, she had no idea how she was going to explain how they'd met. She scrambled for a reasonable story. "He's my dentist. He's always been very impressed with my oral hygiene, and the last time I was there, he was showing me the machines that they use to sterilize their tools, and he asked me out. We've been going out every night since then."

"Wow." Will smiled at her, obviously surprised, but not displeased. "You two haven't…?" Immediately he retracted the question, holding up his hands. "No, no, that's — never mind. Not my business."

"It's fine. That's fine." She didn't think Will would handle the reply,  _He's working me up to that, using the single-tail whip, but as of yesterday we've only made it to second base._  "I'm grateful for your friendship, Will."

He nodded soberly, rising from his chair. "Thanks for the help."

She watched him walk to the door with mild consternation. Just as he was about to duck out, she added, "Um, no, by the way. We haven't."

His response, just a quick smile and another nod, brought her back to where they were and what they were doing. Of course Will wanted to keep it professional at work. That didn't mean he didn't want to listen. There were all kinds of things she  _could_  tell Will about Carl, about what they were doing as boyfriend and girlfriend, when they were off the clock.  _He really wants a baby_  would be the least of them, but certainly one Will could relate to.  _He's reserving the right to see other people_  might be less explicable. Certainly she was not going to say anything about Finn or his presence in Carl's life.

 _He wants to train me to be a slave, and I think I'm going to say yes,_ was beyond what she could imagine saying to Will. In many ways, he was more innocent than most of the men she'd ever dated. It made him a wonderful, gentle friend, but she wasn't sure Will  _wanted_  to hear about the ways in which she was exploring her… needs. And Carl was giving her so much more than she'd ever had before, without any pressure to go further than she felt comfortable going. Maybe it was a little strange to think that he was taking care of Finn at the same time, but that was their agreement. It was up to her to live up to it.

There was another knock on the door. She beckoned Puck inside, straightening her blouse. "Noah. How can I help you? As long as it's not another pass out of math."

"No, no, I'm not asking for a pass. This is about my daughter." He eased into the chair facing her desk. "She's gonna be born in a couple weeks."

"So it seems?" She gave him a smile. "Are you feeling unprepared for fatherhood?"

"Hell, yes," he grinned back. "But this isn't about that. Once she's born, I'm not coming back to school."

Emma paused, reaching for Puck's file. "You mean… you want to reschedule your finals?"

"I mean I'm quitting," Puck said. "I'm not totally giving up, though, because seriously, Finn and Kurt would kill me. Carole — Mrs. Hudson told me about the GED."

"Well, that's one option," she said.

"Yeah, I want to do that. As long as I can do it from home."

She was going to need to go beyond pamphlets here. "There are several programs in Ohio that provide very low- or no-cost day care to teenage, uh, parents…"

"No — no day care. I'm gonna be home with my kid." He shook his head decisively. "I'm not good at much, but I'm sure as shit going to be a good papa."

"Puck, being a parent is a hard thing to do on your own," she protested.

"Well, she's only going to be with me part time," he explained. "The rest of the time, she'll be with Shelby. Corcoran. But she's got the same problem, teaching all day…"

It took a few minutes of careful questioning to get all the whos and wheres and whats out of him. By the end, Emma was sweating inside her yellow short-sleeved sweater set.

"Well, Noah, I'm going to need a little time to pull together some resources for you," she said at last. "I'm going to ask you not to give up on school just yet. Your best option might still be to stay in high school and get your diploma early."

He shook his head, smiling. "You really think I'm gonna graduate? With grades like mine?"

"Not giving up yet," she insisted. "Come back this afternoon. At the very least we can defer your grades until summer when you can take your exams. Like you said, this might not be important to you, but it's important to people who love you. Including, I'm imagining, Mr. Hummel."

"Yeah, maybe," Puck agreed grudgingly. "And Kurt. Pretty much everybody, actually. You got a pamphlet for when your boyfriends care more about your grades than you do?"

"I'll — work on that, too," she managed.

* * *

Kurt cut Finn off in the hallway on his way toward the locker room for fourth period P.E. He looked troubled. "Finn… Matt's on his way here."

"So?"

"So Coach Tanaka's  _not_  here." He gave him a meaningful look. "He walked out after lunch, carrying a big box of things. Didn't you notice, Matt looked like he was going to lose it in algebra? I think he could use a friend, or at least a cover story. Noah's in the office with Ms. Pillsbury, setting up alternate dates for his finals, so he can't be here. Will you talk to Matt?"

"Me and Matt, we're not really friends," Finn said slowly. Then he shook his head. "Yeah, of course. Come on."

Kurt followed Finn into the locker room, hanging back while Finn searched for Matt. It didn't take long. He was standing in the doorway to Coach Tanaka's empty office, staring at the barren desk. Kurt was right; Matt seldom got upset, but today he seemed to be close to falling apart.

"Hey, man," Finn said. He touched Matt's shoulder. "You okay?"

"I guess?" Matt's voice was soft and choked. "Trying, anyway."

"Did… did you know today was his last day?"

He nodded, wiping his eyes and sniffing. "I knew, but I wasn't ready, you know? I don't even know where he's going."

"We might be able to help—" Finn began, but Kurt nudged him, shaking his head, and Finn stopped talking. Matt gave him a wan smile.

"It's okay. My parents would seriously flip out if they found that I'd been in contact with him. I think this is better, at least for now."

His whole body drooped. Finn shot a glance behind them to where the rest of the guys were coming in to get changed for class. Thankfully, no one seemed to be paying attention to them standing there in the empty office.

"I'm really sorry, dude," Finn said quietly.

Matt nodded. "Monday's my last day of school. I'm coming to Regionals on Saturday, and then I get one more day, and then we're heading to Philadelphia."

Finn blinked. "Jeez."

"Does Dave know?" Kurt asked suddenly. Matt nodded, looking at the floor.

"I told him and Mike this weekend. Mike's been kind of… I don't really want to freak him out, you know? He's always been a good friend, but I don't know what he would think about this. About me."

Finn didn't exactly know what to think about Matt's situation, either, but he just nodded. Kurt was edging toward the door, which Finn took as a cue. "Uh, so… I won't tell anybody that you're leaving, if you wanna tell them yourself."

"I just want to wait until after Regionals." He cast them both a pleading glance. "I don't want to bring anybody down."

"Don't worry," Kurt told him. "We'll keep it to ourselves."

The hallway was empty when they walked together out of the locker room.

"You should stay," Kurt said to Finn. "You don't need another tardy."

"It's fine," Finn assured him. "Like you said, Coach Tanaka's not there anyway. The substitutes never take attendance."

They paused outside Mrs. Rasmussen's classroom, watching through the window, but far enough around the corner that she couldn't see. Now Kurt looked positively distressed.

"What is it?" Finn asked.

"He's not there." Kurt edged around to the other side of the door and craned his neck to see the back of the room.

"Who?"

"David."

Finn sighed. "Dude, why do you care? Let him take care of his own freak out. He's not your  _friend."_

Kurt's glare was vicious enough to drive Finn back a few steps. He grabbed Finn's arm and towed him around the corner, forcing him against the wall and thrusting a finger in his face.

"I don't need him to  _like_  me. I need him to know he's not alone. And right now? He really is. I mean, really. You don't know how that feels, Finn. You've never been the only one. Even when you were coming out, you had me to turn to. But Dave has nobody." Kurt's lips tightened. "It's a dangerous place for somebody to be. And I am  _not_  going to abandon him there, no matter how crappy he's been to everyone. Now are you going to class, or are you going to help me find him?"

"I'll help you," Finn said quickly. He reached out and took Kurt's hand, holding it tight. "I'm with you."

Kurt took a breath and let it out. "All right. Now… where would he be? He wasn't in the locker room." He gazed down the hall, thinking. "He told me he heard us, the three of us. Doing… stuff. Not in the attic — before that. When we were in the janitor's closet."

"Fuck," Finn muttered. He let go Kurt's hand and ran it over his hair. "He  _heard_  us?"

Kurt walked down the hall and around the corner, stopping beside his locker. He opened it, rummaging in the back, and peeled away a strip of tape bearing his master key from the back wall. Then he continued down the hall toward the janitor's closet. It was just luck that they didn't meet anyone along the way. While Finn kept nervous watch, Kurt hunched over the keyhole of the closet, jiggling the key until it slid inside and turned.

It was dark in the closet, but the metal folding chair splattered with paint was still there. Seeing it gave Finn a kind of anxious thrill. He remembered sitting on that chair with Puck on his lap, holding him.  _Who are you,_  he had asked, and Puck had said,  _I'm Noah. I'm yours._  They hadn't had any idea what they were doing, but it had all been true.

Kurt looked around the closet, at the ceiling vents, and called out, "Dave." He was quiet at first, then said it again, louder: "David Karofsky."

It was silent for a moment, and then Kurt heard, faintly, "What the hell?"

"Are you alone?"

"Yeah," said Dave. He heard a knocking. "Kurt? Where are you?"

"Looking for you."

There was a longer silence. Dave sounded abashed. "I'm — I'm in the physics lab."

Kurt and Finn followed the hallway all the way around to the other side of the building, to the door of the physics lab. Finn could see how the air vent along the south wall probably led directly into the janitor's closet. Dave was the only person in the room, hunched on a lab stool, looking absurdly large, like a little kid sitting on a toy chair. He glanced up, saw Finn, and turned away, scowling. "Oh. You're here to fuck with me, then?"

"Nobody's fucking with anybody," Kurt said. Dave laughed mirthlessly.

"That's not what I heard."

"Jesus, can you give it a rest?" Finn protested, but Kurt shushed him with a wave of his hand.

"Dave." Kurt's voice was firm. "Come on. You don't want to be here. Not today."

"You got that right," he muttered.

Kurt took a couple steps toward him. "We have a better place. Upstairs."

"Kurt!" Finn was aghast. "You can't tell him about that."

"Dave's not going to tell anybody." Kurt was close enough to touch Dave now, but he simply waited beside him. Dave looked over at Finn again, his eyes hardening.

"You obviously don't trust me."

"No, but Kurt does," said Finn. "I'm not exactly sure why, but… I guess that's good enough for me."

"Dave," Kurt said again, softer this time. "I talked to Matt. I know this is his last week."

Finn watched Dave's face waver momentarily, then flatten out again into an indifferent mask. He took a measured breath. If he hadn't been looking, he never would have believed it. "So? He doesn't care about me anyway."

"That's not true," said Kurt. "He cares very much. Let me show you."

Dave's hands clenched. He rested them on the lab counter. Finn tensed, waiting for Dave to yell, but Dave stood up and grabbed his backpack instead. He picked up a pad of paper from the teacher's desk and began scribbling a note on it.

"Why are you hiding out in here?" Finn asked.

"I'm always here," Dave snapped. He tossed the note pad on the desk. "It's my independent study." Finn looked over at Kurt, his eyebrows raised, but Kurt wasn't paying attention.

"Up the back stairs to the third floor," Kurt told Dave, beckoning for him to follow. Dave and Finn did, Dave looking more and more dubious as they ascended.

"Everything's locked up there."

Kurt held up his key. "How do you think I got into the janitor's closet?"

Dave shook his head with a begrudging smile. "You're a lot sneakier than you let on."

"I guess you've got to be," Finn said, "when assholes like me throw you into dumpsters."

Dave's eyes narrowed, his smile disappearing, but he didn't say anything else as they reached the third floor. Kurt paused beside the attic door and unlocked it, ushering them in.

As soon as Dave saw the mattress, he stopped, his eyes wide. His gaze darted from the dormer window, to the pitted wooden table in the corner, to the wall of shelves holding boxes of music, and back to the mattress. Finn waited by the door while Kurt went to the window, looking out. After a long moment, Dave joined him.

"Wow," he said. His tone was even, but Finn knew better. He watched Kurt's hand hovering over his back, resting there for just a moment before dropping to his side again.

"It's a nice view," Kurt said. "Some days, when I could barely handle being at school, being here in this room and looking out this window was the only thing that kept me sane."

Finn was pretty sure he'd never bothered to actually look out that window. As he moved closer, he realized he could see all the way to the football field. In between lay the ecology greenhouses and the student parking lot.

"How'd you score this place?" Dave asked. He put a hand on the windowsill, brushing fingertips across the peeling paint.

"I probably shouldn't say. He might get in trouble. But we didn't have to break any rules to get it, and we're helping move all the choir music files upstairs, a little at a time. In return, everybody leaves us alone." Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Everybody. And we get a place where we can just be… ourselves."

Dave averted his eyes from the mattress, covered with Kurt's mother's old quilt. "And what makes you think I won't rat you out?"

"Because you won't." Kurt sounded very certain. It didn't sound like he was blackmailing Dave or anything. It was as though the question were absurd. Dave shook his head slowly.

"I don't know why you think I'm that guy."

"What guy?" Finn asked.

Dave didn't answer. Kurt went to Finn and touched his chest with one hand. Dave was very obviously  _not watching_  them, but since Kurt didn't seem to care, Finn tried not to worry about it.

"I'm going to try to apologize for missing half of English," he said. "Would you stay here with Dave until he's ready to go?"

Finn tried not to let his face look like  _hell no._  "How am I going to know if he's ready to go?" he whispered.

"He won't be so pissed off," Kurt replied, smiling faintly.

"I think I'll be waiting an awfully long time," Finn whispered back.

Kurt laughed, then leaned in and kissed him. Finn heard Dave catch his breath. Kurt patted him on the chest and smiled, looking completely at ease, before heading for the door.

"You're leaving me here with  _Hudson?"_  Dave grumbled.

"I'll see you in Glee, Finn," said Kurt. He nodded at Dave. "You get to be that guy if you want to be, David."

The room was very quiet after Kurt shut the door behind him. Finn shuffled awkwardly over to the mattress and sat down on it, then wondered if he shouldn't have. He didn't want to imply  _anything_ to Dave about what a mattress might mean. But Dave came over and sat down at the table, running his hand over the warped surface.

"This could use some sanding," he said. Finn smiled in surprise.

"We've been kind of ignoring this place. I haven't been up here in weeks."

It was Dave's turn to look surprised. "Really? Man, if I had a place like this, I'd be up here all the time."

"Well, you do now," said Finn. "We've all got keys, so I guess if you want to get in, just ask me or Kurt or Puck to let you in."

Dave paused his hand in its path along the table's surface, then nodded stiffly. "Yeah, I don't think I'll be doing that."

"But you just said you —"

"I wouldn't want to interrupt anything," Dave broke in. He sounded… Finn could hear anger, and bitterness, and something like panic in his voice.

"Well, we kind of live together, so that doesn't matter much now." He heard the words coming out of his mouth, and couldn't believe he was saying them to Dave Karofsky, but Dave already knew about the room, so how could it get any weirder? Dave was looking at him with perplexed eyes.

"You guys live together."

"It's more complicated than that." Finn picked at a stray thread in the quilt, pulling it loose, but he only succeeded in unraveling a patch of fabric. He tried to find the end of the thread, which was now quite long. "Puck, his mom died last year, and he came to live with Kurt's dad. Him and Puck's sister."

"Sarah," Dave said softly. "I forgot he had a sister. And — a brother? Doesn't he have one of those?"

"Timothy." Finn watched Dave's uncomprehending face, and corrected himself. "Meemee."

"Oh yeah." Dave grinned, nodding. "Meemee. Jesus, I remember him. Wasn't his brother kind of awesome at chess?"

Finn wasn't sure he liked the way the conversation was going, revisiting Finn and Davey's past with Noah Puckerman. It was making him a little angry. When Finn didn't respond, Dave let the smile fall away and returned his eyes to the table. Finn felt kind of bad for him, but even realizing  _that_  made him angry. Kurt could be as sympathetic to Dave as he wanted, but that didn't mean Finn was about to forgive Dave.

On the other hand, if he wasn't going to at least try to be nice, Dave was  _really_  going to take a long time before he would be ready to go.

"You talk to him a lot?" asked Dave.

"Who?" Finn asked.

Dave scraped at the table with his fingernail. "Blaine," he said. His voice was gruff.

 _Blaine._  Hearing his name, spoken at McKinley, made Finn feel a little short of breath. "I usually see him on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We play in a band together with — another guy. I have to drive out to Columbus; I guess he's not old enough to drive yet."

Dave nodded. "His birthday's coming up pretty soon, though."

"Oh." That caught him off guard. Finn wondered what he should do for Blaine's birthday. He couldn't exactly ask Puck to make  _him_  a cake. That would definitely be weird. "Uh, do you know when?"

"June thirteenth," said Dave. "It's a week after mine."

"You want me to tell him you said hi?"

Dave's eyes shot up to connect with Finn's. "No," he said immediately. "Don't say anything."

"Why not?"

He stood, restlessly crossing to look out the window again. "Because the last time I saw him, I was a total asshole to him, and he told me he didn't — that we couldn't —"

"Oh." Finn looked at Dave's back, the way he stood at the window. Kurt was right. Dave  _was_  alone, and it really did suck. "Um. Kurt's birthday is May twenty-seventh. Only he's a year older, because of his mom, so he'll be seventeen."

"His mom?" Dave wasn't looking, but he was listening. Finn went on.

"Yeah, his mom died when he was eight. Cancer, I can't remember what kind. He missed a bunch of school while she was sick, so he repeated third grade."

"That's awful." Dave actually looked really upset by this. "Jesus. Puck's mom, and Kurt's mom. And your dad?"

"Kind of," Finn said. "He died when I was a baby, so I never met him. My mom's still here, though." He laughed. "That's why we're living together. She's moving in with Kurt's dad."

"No  _way,"_  Dave breathed, looking up at last. "For real?"

"For real," Finn agreed.

Dave laughed too, coming over to sit on the mattress across from Finn. "Like, boyfriend-girlfriend?"

"Seriously. It was so weird at first, but… I really like Kurt's dad. So it's okay."

"You think they're gonna get married?" Dave was grinning. "Wouldn't that make you guys stepbrothers? Awkward."

"Yeah, plus Puck's getting adopted and everything, so I'd kind of have two stepbrothers. Uh, incestuous stepbrothers." He winced. "That's not really public knowledge, though. We're keeping it a secret, the thing about me and Kurt, and me and Puck."

Dave was quiet for a moment. "You mean… you're just the stepbrother and Puck's the boyfriend?"

Now Dave was directing that upset expression on  _him_ , and it made him feel weird again. He shrugged. "Whatever. I mean, it's mostly for Sarah. I don't want to get in the way of the adoption. She would be totally freaked out if she had to live somewhere else away from Puck."

He watched Dave think about this for a while, leaning back against the wall under the eaves. His face looked so much more relaxed when he wasn't trying so hard.

 _That's how he's supposed to be,_  Finn thought.  _That's how Kurt wants him to be._

"You really are that guy," he said.

Dave kind of flinched, but he didn't completely abandon his relaxed expression.

"I'm really not," Dave said. "I think I used to be, but I haven't… I haven't done it in a while."

"You could." Finn thought for a moment. "Puck did."

"Yeah, if you haven't noticed, Puck's got his own set of rules." He twisted his mouth like he was trying not to smile. "And maybe he's got a little help."

"Kind of a lot of help," Finn admitted. The smile snuck through onto Dave's face.

"I don't know why I was surprised to hear about Puckerman," he said. "But I sure as hell was surprised to hear about  _you._ I mean, you and Rachel Berry have a thing, right? That's the rumor, anyway."

"Yeah, well, rumors are convenient, but she's not my girlfriend."  _What about you and Matt,_  he wanted to ask, but he figured that would just be cruel.

Dave looked at him, curiosity lurking in his eyes. "And Kurt doesn't care about you and Puck?"

"We all see other people," he said. "It's complicated, but it's worth it. I think it's the only way I can do it." He watched Dave's thoughtful face warily. "Yeah, you think it's fucked up."

"I'm not sure I'm one to judge, man."

That was all Dave was apparently going to say. Finn felt his own judgments shifting inside, and the process was making him a little uneasy, like he wasn't sure if he was going to puke or not. In any case, Dave didn't appear to be angry anymore, so he decided that was progress.

"This was kind of weird," Finn said, climbing off the mattress. Dave stood up too, watching as he moved to the door. "But I guess it was all right."

Dave nodded. "It's been a long time since we were, you know. Friends."

Finn decided a response like  _not in a million years_  wasn't going to help Dave feel more calm. And, anyway, it wasn't how he felt. Not anymore. He shrugged. "Maybe it's time to try again."

He let Dave go first, locking the door behind them with his own key. Then he took the back stairs to the second floor, pausing when he saw Rachel ahead of him. He felt a rush of  _safe_  and  _familiar,_  both of which might have been bullshit, but at the moment he was willing to take bullshit.

But then she looked up and saw him, turning around to move against the tide of students toward him. "Hey," she called. "We need to talk."

He paused on the step above her, staring down, until she changed places with him, nudging him back a step so they were nearly even in height. "What about?"

"Glee." She looked even more determined than usual. "I'm sorry I gave up at Mr. Schuester's party. We have a chance of keeping it together if nobody else decides to bail, but we need you. You're a leader, Finn. The way you're on everyone all the time is a little weird, but it's also what keeps people motivated."

Finn wasn't even sure what to say about that. The fact that Rachel had noticed, at all, told him she was more perceptive than he'd given her credit for being. She reached out and grasped his hand, clutching it in both of hers.

"You and I are going to fix this," she said. "We're going to Regionals, and we're going to win this thing."

And then she leaned in and kissed him, right on his lips. It was so surprising that Finn just stood there, looking at her, wondering what he should do now. He took a deep breath and decided to just say was in his heart.

"Everybody wants this to go on," he said. "I do too. I don't want it to end. I think, no matter what happens at Regionals, we should keep having Glee. Even if we have to do it at each other's houses. Nobody can stop us from doing what we want after school, right?"

"Right," she said excitedly. "It doesn't have to be about a club, at least not right now. It can just be about… being together."

"Being home," said Finn. She threw her arms around him.

"Being home," she whispered. Her eyes were bright. "Come on. Let's go tell Mr. Schuester."

* * *

"So you're doing a Journey medley for Regionals?" Carl sounded inordinately pleased. He eased the Corvette out of the driveway. "Do you know what you'll sing?"

"Well, we have Don't Stop Believing already choreographed. Rachel wants to sing Faithfully with me as a duet." Finn wasn't sure what to think about that message, but unless she said something to him, he'd go on assuming it was just a song. "So that leaves one big number for us to put together. I'm not sure what it should be. We only have three days to practice."

"Journey," Carl mused. "I'm not sure if that's going to help you win, but it sounds like that's not likely to happen, anyway."

"No," Finn sighed. "Coach Sylvester's going to make sure of that. And besides, knowing how much time Toby and Shelby have been putting into practicing their songs, I don't really think we're going to be much in the way of competition. So we're not counting on winning, but that's not the most important thing anyway."

"That's very sportsmanlike of you," he said, with an approving nod. "And I think Rachel was right. You have the capacity to keep the group together, club or no club."

"If that's what everybody wants, that's what we're going to do." He eyed Carl. "I'm not surprised you agree with Rachel."

Carl shifted into fourth, accelerating onto the onramp. "From what you tell me about her, I don't always think she makes good decisions, but I'm glad she came to you."

"I think you know more about her than I tell you," Finn said quietly.

He saw Carl's hand hesitate before gripping the steering wheel. "I'm not sure how I would?"

"Same way Shelby knew about Jesse. She watches him." He reached out and touched Carl's hand. It had been long enough now that that gesture no longer startled either of them, but Carl still flinched. "She watches her son, like you watch your daughter."

Carl was silent for a long moment. "How long have you known?"

"Not very long. Less than a week. Puck helped me figure it out. He talked to Shelby about you, before she agreed about Beth."

"I wanted to tell you," Carl began, but Finn put up a hand, stopping him.

"I don't get to know everything. You told me that from day one. As much as I might want to be, I'm never going to be your boyfriend. I know it's not like that. You get to… to set the rules, and I get to follow them." He swallowed the hurt. "Sir."

"Oh, Finn," Carl said softly. He sighed. "All right."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Of course. You'll need to save time for Spanish flashcards."

Finn tried to focus. "When you, um. Gave me your collar. You said I should… that I might want to get one for Blaine. And keep it, for when he's ready. So his birthday's coming up, and I don't know… I was wondering if you could tell me where you got that one. The one you got me. Because it's so awesome."

He could tell Carl was giving him space to stumble through the request. He was smiling, but not in a mean way. "It really is. And you look amazing in it."

"Thanks," he said faintly. "Sir. So…"

"It was made by one of the frequent munch attendees in Columbus. Her public name is Six. She might be there today, if you'd like to meet her. Her work's not inexpensive, but I imagine she could set up a payment plan for you, if you had your heart set on one of hers." Carl thought for a moment. "You might want to have a backup gift in place, in case you decide he's not ready for the collar by the time his birthday happens. Something a little less… rife with meaning. How about, I don't know, tickets to a concert?"

"That would be awesome," Finn said, grinning. "The ticket places all need credit cards, though. My mom would have to help me."

"I can take care of that for you, my boy. We can look online tonight to see what shows are coming up soon, when we get home — back to Lima."

The correction was quick, but Finn shook his head. "It's okay." He settled back in the seat as the speedometer crept almost imperceptibly up to eighty. "Your house feels like home, as much as any place is right now."

Carl seemed pleased by that, but it put Finn in mind of another guy who didn't have much of a home at the moment.

"One more thing," he said. "Kurt asked if I would ask you… you haven't been training any new slaves, not since I met you, right? Just Angela."

"Angela's training was finished long ago. She's been with me out of loyalty and convenience more than anything."

"Well, there's somebody who really needs an Angela."

"Everybody needs an Angela," Carl said, "but there's only one of her." He looked over at Finn. "Who were you thinking needed her assistance?"

"Adam," said Finn. "You should have seen him. He totally fell apart, right in front of me and Puck, and then he turned around five minutes later and said he was fine."

"Hmmm. Sounds like what he really needs is —" Carl smirked.

"Yeah, I don't think he's about to ask for that. The thing is, I think he actually keeps things together pretty well, when Jacob is there helping him and giving him someone to talk to? Kurt thinks so too. But during the tour, he won't have him. If there's something we can do to keep him from losing it like he did… I think it'd be important. For Puck and Kurt, if nothing else."

"I know he's not your boyfriend, but you care about him in your own way. I do, too." Carl took one hand off the steering wheel and held Finn's. "You're not wrong that Angela needs another assignment. As sad as I would be to see her go, I know it would be good for her. And Adam…" He nodded slowly. "They could have a trial run during his tour. This is all assuming he wants someone with him, of course."

"I think," Finn said, "if he didn't feel like we were… you know, checking up on him. If this was something for  _him_ , it would be okay."

"So perceptive." Carl flashed him a smile that did funny things to his insides, but that was nothing new, either. He controlled his reaction, breathing evenly as he felt his muscles contract around plug number seven. Carl nodded. "All right. I'll speak with her this week. Will you tell Kurt he's going to need to have a conversation with Adam about this before we make any move to offer her services?"

"Yeah, I can do that." He reached into his backpack and took out the flash cards with a sigh. If anything would kill an erection, it would be Spanish vocabulary drill.  _"Estoy listo para practicar Espanol."_

* * *

Frances had felt a little uncertain asking her father if Sarah could come over for dinner. Her mother was cooking, so it would have made more sense to ask her, but she knew her father would absolutely say yes. Her mother was unpredictable about Sarah. Sometimes she seemed to disapprove of their friendship, but other times she said things that made Frances wonder. Her father, however, quite openly adored her.

"Would you be completely embarrassed if we talked about the house?" her father asked, smiling hopefully. Frances had to smile back, considering it was just about the only thing Sarah talked about anymore.

"As long as  _she_  wants to, Daddy."

Sarah, naturally, brought the most recent version of the floor plans over for the two of them to peruse. Not that Sarah hadn't been over every inch of them with Frances before, but this was the first time since it was decided that it was  _for real_  going to happen.

"Our goal is to break ground by June. Which means we're gonna have to get all the permits finalized, which means  _no_  problems with the plans when they go before the township." Sarah crawled across Frances' bed to point at the space above the front garage. "This is totally going to be for Carole's crafts. I was originally thinking for Noah, but he needs first floor access."

"For the baby," Frances said. Sarah snorted.

"For other stuff I can't talk about. The baby'd be better off on the second floor, probably."

Frances smoothed out one corner that had been accidentally folded. "I think babies would be fine most places?"

"I have no idea about babies, but I know Noah, so that's what I'm planning for." She reached out for the book sitting on the bedside table and looked it over. " _Charlotte's Web?_  Didn't we read that in, like, second grade?"

"I've read it a bunch of times," Frances said, retrieving the book. She knew she sounded defensive, but she felt like she should explain. "My babysitter, he read it to me, back before I could read. Don't you remember him? He used to babysit for you, too."

Sarah made a face. "I never had a  _babysitter."_

She turned the book over, feeling the worn, soft edges of the pages under her thumb. "Anyway, he read it. He'd read it whenever things got confusing, or hard. Because something about the story made me feel… well, Charlotte, the spider. She was the kind of person — animal — whatever, you know what I mean — the kind of person I wanted to be."

Sarah looked at her curiously. "What kind of person was that?"

"Well, she kind of… used her words, her influence, to help Wilbur become more than he could on his own. She wasn't in the spotlight, and she didn't want to be. She put Wilbur there. And because she said he was terrific, and radiant, and humble, he  _was._  But it wasn't Wilbur doing those things, it was Charlotte, helping him become that."

"She was his resin."

"More than that." Frances shook her head. "She was the whole tree. Strong and resourceful and dependable."

Sarah sat up straight on the bed, looking at the book. "I think — I think you do that really well."

Frances felt her face flush. "Thanks."

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "There's no way I'd handle skipping seventh grade without your help."

Sarah wasn't quite smiling, but when Frances sat up and grabbed her hands, she began to laugh. " _Sarah!"_

"I don't know," she said, still laughing.

"Yes you  _do,"_  Frances insisted, giving her hands a shake. "You  _do_  know, and you just told me. You want to do that?"

"Not especially," she admitted. "I don't really want to. But you make me feel like I can. And I figure if I can do a thing, I kind of owe it to Tatenui to do it. And you."

"Sarah, this would be all you. You're the one who gets perfect grades without trying." She felt like she wanted to hug Sarah again and again and never let go, but she settled with beaming at her.

"You're not pissed at me?" Sarah said. The way she sounded, so tentative, wasn't anything like Sarah.

"For what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, for… abandoning you in seventh grade hell?"

"We'll still have lunch together," Frances said stoutly. "And before and after school. And electives — seventh and eighth graders take the same electives." She climbed off the bed and came around to stand in front of Sarah, still holding the worn copy of  _Charlotte's Web._  "You know I thought you should do it."

"I know," Sarah agreed. "That's why I told you first, before Noah or Tatenui or Kurt or anybody. I always want you to be first, for everything."

Frances laughed. It came out a little high and nervous. "You were my first kiss."

"See, there you go." She didn't look bothered by the reminder of the moment, late after New Year's Eve had passed. "You're gonna stick with me. But I don't think eighth grade will be any harder than seventh would have been."

"Probably not," Frances said. "But you'll be an aunt. And you'll have all those brothers around, making things more complicated."

"I like things complicated," said Sarah. "It's way more interesting."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam calls Tess from the airport to talk about his plans. Sarah finds out more about what her brother does with his guys and is serenaded by Puck. Everyone says I Love You. Toby takes his kids to Regionals and Quinn has a baby. Finn meets Carl at the hospital, while Shelby meets a figure from her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been keeping to Adam's actual appearance schedule very closely up until now, but in April 2010 I have him take an abrupt hiatus — you'll see why. 
> 
> I must say it's very exciting for me to be writing all this stuff that's been on my storyboard since 2011. Thank you again for reading this far. Quoting here from 1x22.
> 
> -amy

 

Adam reached across to the other side of the aisle and nudged Jacob with his foot. Jacob grunted. "What?"

"We're not going to make the connecting flight."

"Prob'ly not," Jacob agreed. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"It's three AM. How can you sleep?" He turned to Tommy, who actually was asleep, slouched against his carry-on. "I have never figured out how to sleep in airports."

"It might involve not talking," said Jacob. "You could try it. Dunno. Maybe a crazy idea."

"Hint taken," Adam said. Three seconds later, he nudged Jacob again. "Except."

Jacob turned a baleful eye on him. "Except what?"

"Except if I don't make the connecting flight, I won't be home in time to call Kurt and Noah."

"Leave them a text, for God's sake. You've missed calls with them before."

"No, but this one is important. It's the day before their big performance. Their choir thing. Glee club, whatever." Adam bounced in his seat. "I listened to their rehearsal yesterday."

"Charming," Tommy said distinctly, his eyes still closed. "Time to shut up now, Glitterbaby."

"Okay, okay." He sat back, barely subdued, and pulled out his phone, typing out a quick text to Kurt: _Stuck in the airport, flight's delayed. I won't be home until after you're at school._ He doubted Kurt was awake yet. Now that Cheerios practice was over with for the season, he didn't have a reason to be up before six AM anymore. He wasn't going to bother to text Noah; he seldom called back unless he was in crisis.

Adam sighed. He tweeted a photo of Tommy's sleeping face. He thumbed through his contacts and paused on one name. "Huh. I bet she's awake. Is it three hours earlier or two in Iowa?" He decided it didn't matter, and pressed the SEND button, waiting through three rings before it picked up.

 _"Riordan."_ Adam could hear the murmur of a crowd in the background, and smiled, thinking of what must be going on in the club right now.

"Good evening, Tess. It's Adam." He sat up, trying not to sound like he'd been waiting in an airport for five hours. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

" _Adam, hello - bear with me for a few moments, sweetheart, while I get somewhere quieter. Is everything all right?"_

"Everything's fine," he reassured her. "Other than our plane being delayed. We're all very, very done with airports and could use some flat surfaces to lie down on." He surveyed Tommy, who was curled into an improbably small space on the chair beside him. "Well, some of us could."

" _Good. And here's my nice quiet office,_ " she said with a sigh.  _"What's on your mind? I'd heard about how busy you've been."_

He rubbed at his eyes, trying to focus as best as he could. "Well, I'm about to become even more busy. I had a thought that I would like to come to Lima at the end of May, after Noah's daughter is born, to visit. And then I heard that you might be planning to visit as well, and I thought I should check in with you to be sure it didn't interfere with your own plans."

" _Oh, sweetheart. You won't interfere with my plans in the least, don't you worry about that. It will be good to see you again. And there's a baby coming. I'm sure you can't wait to hold her."_

It was hard, on so little sleep and hopped up from travel, to maintain his filter, but Adam did his best. "To be honest, I'm not really a baby person. I'm excited for them, of course. It'll be fine."

" _Adam."_  He winced at the tone, but it would undoubtedly be wiser to let her continue.  _"Adam, I"ll not have any of that. You wanted to speak with me about something, and though I appreciate the white lie of you not wanting to interfere with my plans - no, stop,"_  she said, as he began to protest.  _"We'll have what's on your mind now, young man. Do you hear me?"_

He was somewhat abashed. Glancing over at Jacob - who appeared to be asleep again, although Adam wouldn't bet on it - he replied, "Uh... yes ma'am?"

" _This is not a simple situation, Adam. As a matter of fact, it's one of the more complicated family situations I've seen. It's understandable that you would have some concerns, and you need to drop your discomfort and discuss that with someone. I'm honored that you appear to have chosen me - but you need to be clear with me. What's bothering you?"_

"Honestly, I didn't -" He paused in his reply, because it was obvious that Tess saw something that he hadn't. He tried to dig a little deeper before resuming his thought. "Well... Noah's situation is about to change. Parents need to focus on their children. The selfish part of me isn't exactly looking forward to that. I figured this was my chance to be here for him, before I go on tour. I won't really be available to Noah after that."

" _It's understandable that you feel that way - Noah will need to focus on the baby. You must keep in mind that what won't change is his need for your support - if anything, it may increase his need. Perhaps think of it as a shift in energy - there will be less time one on one, but the time that is available will likely be deeper and more intense. And I would also like you to consider your sense of fairness, young man. His need for you once you go on tour won't change - and neither will Kurt's."_

Adam swung his legs over the edge of the seat and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, trying to get comfortable, although it was probably a lost cause. "I know. It's already been so hard to stay in contact. We're all committed to that right now, but I'm not assuming Noah will continue to feel that way after his daughter's born. It's less than a month away."

" _Try to listen a little more closely, darling. His need for you is not going to vanish in a month, or even two months. And it is likely to increase."_

"I know," Adam said impatiently, suppressing a surge of annoyance. "Trust me, I already feel bad enough for not being able to give him what he needs."

" _Stop. He needs you, yes, but remember he is not alone. And I have a suggestion about keeping in contact, but it will require some effort on your part."_

"I'm listening?" He drummed his fingers on the armrest. "I don't know what I should expect about being on tour. If it's anything like Idol, I'll have more than enough down time to make phone calls, but not a lot of face-to-face opportunities."

" _I'd like to suggest something in addition to the phone calls. In my personal experience, there is no substitute for something solid and real. And there's one way to create that, when distance separates loved ones. Try writing, Adam. Pen to paper. With how busy you are, perhaps pen to postcard. The boys would probably love receiving postcards from every town you're in. I maintain correspondence with many of my own boys, and even with my father, since we live so far apart. I'm certain you'll have some way to pick up mail at your tour stops."_

He smiled despite the hour. "Paper correspondence. How charming. You might change your mind once you see how bad my handwriting is."

" _I doubt it, and as you've suggested that you will, I expect to see some soon. There's no harm in old-fashioned courtesy and romance, Adam."_

"Kurt would appreciate it, I'm sure. Well, thanks for the suggestion." His imagination had already flashed on a portable desk of sorts, with stationery and pens and sealing wax for fastening envelopes. "Maybe an opportunity to write like that will inspire me."

" _I wouldn't be surprised, I know that many singers and artists and writers tend to keep a small notebook around, and get in the habit of recording what the see in the world around them - it's a way of hanging on to the little silver moments in life, so that they're not overshadowed by gold - or glitter,"_  she said, sounding contemplative.  _"I imagine you'll have a PA or personal assistant who could keep you in postcards and stationery, so you have one less thing to worry about. I heard you may be taking Angela into consideration?"_

"Angela?" he repeated.

" _Yes, Carl's Angela. He's been looking for an appropriate placement for her for years, and this would be different enough from how she's been serving Carl that I feel she'd do well. And you're an upstanding enough young man, I believe you could handle her."_

Adam frowned, nudging Tommy to be sure he really was asleep. "Well, actually, Kurt did mention that to me. I wasn't sure how to react. How would I take care of a slave on tour?"

Tess chuckled.  _"Darling, she'll take care of you. That's part of why I think it would be such a good idea for you. You'll need to mind that her physical needs are cared for, but you already do that for your band and crew. I don't think handing out discipline here and there would be a hardship for you, after watching you handle your boys."_

It might have been due to exhaustion, but her comment was unexpectedly moving. "Thank you," he said softly. He paused, trying to consider the idea from that perspective. "It's a strange thought, having someone take care of me that way. Someone who isn't - well." He chuckled. "Isn't Noah. I don't even know what that would be like."

" _Take a chance and find out,"_  Tess suggested.  _"It would possibly provide some of us, Noah and Kurt included, with some peace of mind knowing that you're being looked after. And really, darling, she's highly trained, with excellent skills - you'll hardly know that you're being taken care of, but life will suddenly become easier."_

In the middle of the noisy, dirty airport, surrounded by people focused on their own concerns, having someone like that in his life sounded pretty damn good. "All right," he heard himself say. "I'll consider it."

" _Excellent. Anything else, sweetheart - aside from trying not to fret about the tour, that is?"_

"I'm not worried about that. When I'm performing, when I'm talking to reporters, it's all amazing. It's the crash at the end of the day that gets me." He yawned mightily, listening to the announcement over the PA. "I think that might be for us. Thank you for the distraction, Tess. I'll schedule my visit to Lima, and I'll look forward to seeing you in a month."

" _Of course, I'm looking forward to that too. You're quite welcome, and I'll expect a note from you soon."_

Adam reached over and shook Tommy awake, helping him unfold from his knot. He felt surprisingly refreshed after his conversation with Tess. Jacob hefted his bag onto his shoulder and did a quick sweep of the hallway before giving Adam the okay, beckoning for Timothy to follow.

"You still have time to call Kurt before we get on the plane," he told Adam.

"It's okay," he said. "I think I might write him a letter instead."

* * *

Tatenui and Carole went on a date Friday night, leaving Sarah alone with her three brothers. The house seemed very quiet. Sarah made sure to knock very loudly on Kurt's door, and to wait until she heard the scuffling stop, before trying the doorknob.

"Can I come in?" she called, waiting with her hand on the knob.

"Just a sec," Kurt called. "Finn, put the — yeah. No, in the other drawer." The door opened on his disheveled, flushed face, but they all appeared to all be dressed and not too upset to be interrupted. "Come on in."

She climbed onto the bed when Puck made room for her in the middle. Kurt sat next to Finn on the other side. It was only a little weird to be sitting so close to Finn, but she decided she could handle it.

"So you've got Regionals tomorrow," she said.

Finn nodded. "We're trying to pretend it doesn't matter we won't win."

" _Does_  it matter?"

"No," said Puck, at the same time that Kurt said, "Yes."

Finn smiled, shrugging. "I think it sucks, personally, but it's not the most important thing."

"What's the most important thing?"

"Staying together next year, all of us," he said. "Glee club without the club. I think we can do it, but it'll take some work. We're all going to take a little shit for it."

"So what?" Puck leaned back against the wall, his hands behind his head. "I took shit when I came out. I mean, when Kurt outed me." He snorted at Kurt's poke in his ribs. "Am I complaining?"

"You're here now, right?" she asked Finn. "At the house, I mean? Until we build?" When he nodded, she turned to Puck. "You, too?"

"I cleaned out Carl's apartment. I sure as hell better be here." He looked more closely at Sarah. "Why are you asking?"

"I have something to tell you." She held her ground as all three of them swiveled their eyes onto her. "I figured I better tell you all at once. I haven't told Tatenui or Carole yet."

"Bad or good?" Puck demanded.

"I don't know yet. Probably some of both."

Kurt touched her hand. "We're listening."

She could kind of feel their listening, as though it were something tangible. It was comforting enough that she was able to look Kurt in the eye when she said, "I'm gonna skip seventh grade."

"Whoa," Finn said, both eyebrows going way up on his forehead. He looked over at Puck, who was staring at her. "You can do that?"

"My principal said I could. I didn't really want to." She shrugged, accepting Kurt's hug. "I still don't."

"But you're doing it anyway," said Kurt, smiling. "That takes a lot of courage. I'm really proud of you."

Puck still hadn't said anything. She looked up at him with her best ferocious glare.

"You think I'm an idiot?"

He blinked, then shook his head. "An idiot? You're the opposite of an idiot, squirt."

She tucked herself in closer to him, huddling into the familiar warmth of his arm. "I mean for doing this on purpose."

"Makes sense to me. You do less school this way, right? That's better."

Finn still looked mystified. "How'd you manage to get them to let you  _do_  that?"

"She got perfect scores on everything," said Kurt. "And she did all her homework, and had intelligent conversations with her teachers. Basically, she showed them she was too good for seventh grade."

She grinned at Finn. "Honestly, I think Principal Hartford heard about what I was doing with the house plans and got scared. This way, at least, they'll keep me busy enough to stay out of trouble." She enclosed the last phrase in air quotes, which made Puck grin too.

"Fat chance."

"Hey," she protested. "I don't get in trouble."

"Someday you will," he said. "And it'll be big, way bigger than anything I've done."

Finn looked uneasy. "You shouldn't say things like that. Tempting fate and everything."

"That doesn't really happen," said Kurt firmly. He took Sarah's hand. "When we're seniors, you'll be in ninth grade. We'll all get to be at the high school together!"

That made Finn smile. "You know, I don't think most people like their families this much?"

"That's because we chose ours," said Puck. "Me and Sarah started as family, yeah, but we kind of chose that, too. Chose to stick together when everything sucked."

"You think we can do that?" Kurt looked over at Finn. "Make a commitment to stay together, even when everything sucks? For no better reason than because we love each other?"

"I'm not sure what other reason there would be," said Finn. "But it seems like a good one to me."

Kurt looked at each of them in turn. "We had a lot of reasons not to be together this year. I'm not saying any of them were bad ideas. We're eliminating some of them, building the house and giving Noah what he needs, but others will come up."

"We said a year, baby," said Finn. "At New Year's."

Kurt shook his head insistently. "I know. I'm not pushing for — anything. I'm just saying… this, what we have right now, it's worth something. It's worth hanging on to." He reached out and took Sarah's hands. "Sarah, you're my sister. I love you."

"Dude," she muttered, squirming a little, but she couldn't help smile.

"It's not a bad thing," he said. "I'm saying it. It's important. We need to hang onto that."

"Okay, okay." She made herself make eye contact with him again. "Yeah. I love you, too." Puck made a little noise, and she dug into his ribs with her knuckles. "And you."

"You have to say it," Kurt said.

She rolled her eyes a little, but she turned to face Puck and grabbed his hands. He looked like he might be ready to cry, so she decided she could be brave, for him. "I love you, dork."

"Fuck, yeah," he muttered, and grabbed her in a hug. She could feel the stubble on his face as he brushed a kiss onto her cheek.

"Now you do it," she told him. He looked up at Finn, who was already grinning stupidly.

"Yeah, he loves this stuff." Puck rolled his eyes. "You want me to tell you how wuvvy-dovey I get about you, Finny-pooh?"

" _Noah,"_  Kurt said severely, while Puck snickered. "I was being serious."

"Sorry," he said, obviously not at all sorry. Finn cleared his throat.

"Sarah, you might not want to be around for this part."

"You think you're gonna shock me or something?" She gestured magnanimously at Finn. "Do your worst. Whatever it is, he totally deserves it."

"There's no  _worst_  when it comes to your brother," he said. In a very quiet, very focused voice, he said, "Noah."

She watched Puck pause, almost freeze, for just a moment before laughing uneasily. "Yeah, right. There's no way you're gonna —"

"Right here." Finn pointed at the rug beside Kurt's bed. He didn't snap his fingers or even raise his voice, but the way Puck was practically hyperventilating, he might as well have screamed at him. Puck shot an appeal at Kurt, who frowned his disapproval.

"You know there'll already be consequences for this," said Kurt. "This is  _Finn._  You're going to obey him."

"Oh my god," Puck whined. His face was scarlet. "In front of  _Sarah?"_

Sarah felt like laughing, because the way her brother was for Finn and Kurt was  _exactly_  who he should be, in front of everybody, instead of the asshole he pretended to be with most of the world. But she didn't want to distract him with commentary.

Kurt crossed his arms and stood firm. "She's going to see it eventually, if she's living with us. Don't make him ask again."

Finn didn't look upset. He waited patiently with his long legs hanging off the edge of the bed, smiling reassuringly at Sarah. She smiled back.

As soon as Puck sank to his knees, he moved to sit in front of him.

"Now…" He put some steel into his voice. "Look at me."

She thought maybe Puck wouldn't, at first, but eventually, with an effort, he wrested his eyes from the floor and gazed up at Finn. He wasn't grinning anymore. He looked a little desperate.

"Are you ready to say it now?" Finn asked. The gentle kindness in Finn's voice elicited a little gasping noise from Puck. He shook his head.

"You want me to go first?" asked Kurt, but Finn held up a hand, and Kurt fell silent.

"I know how you feel about Kurt, Noah." Finn was using a measured tone that made Sarah feel calm and relaxed, like she might have to take a nap. "You have from the very beginning. Before you even made a move toward him, I could tell there was something there. When he's taking care of you, he's your whole world."

Puck nodded this time, settling onto his knees. Sarah watched him curiously, but she didn't say anything.

"And Adam," he went on. "When you hear him, when he talks to you… all you want to do is obey."

Another nod, this one slower and more calm. Puck took a deep breath and let it out.

"That's right. And you know why?"

"Why?" Puck asked softly.

"Because," said Finn, looking at Sarah, "you're such a good boy."

Sarah watched him wrestle with this for a few long moments. She wanted to kick him and say  _just say thank you, you dork face,_ but she held back. This was obviously Finn's show.

When he bent down and took Puck's chin in his hand, raising Puck's face up to his, Puck's fidgeting stopped, and he just knelt there, waiting and staring into Finn's eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked. Sarah heard Kurt catch his breath.

"I'm - I'm Noah," he whispered.

"And who do you belong to?"

"You," he said immediately. "And Kurt. And Adam."

Finn looked so calm. "Are you ready to tell me now?"

He still looked embarrassed, but he didn't hesitate. "I love you. And Kurt, and Adam."

"You'll have to tell Adam that yourself," Finn said, smiling. He leaned over and cupped Puck's face in both hands. "And I love you, too."

Sarah watched Puck's last vestiges of resistance crumble away, and he sat there whimpering for a long minute while Finn kissed him. It wasn't sexy kissing, but instead covered his face and cheeks and forehead and any other parts of his face that were available, slowly and methodically. Sarah giggled while Puck bore each touch of Finn's lips to his skin.

"Kurt," he said between kisses, "get down here."

Kurt knelt beside Puck on the floor and set to work, adding his own kisses to Finn's effort to cover all the empty space on Puck's face. He quailed under their assault. When Finn sat back, he looked like he might be in a trance, his eyes half-closed.

"Look at Kurt," Finn said. Sarah could tell Puck heard it like a command now. His eyes opened immediately and he looked right at Kurt, who was smiling. "Now you can tell him."

It wasn't sickly sweet like a romantic movie. Puck's expression was awed. "I love you."

"And Adam," Kurt said, with a little laugh. "And we love you, sweetheart." He looked up at Finn with obvious fondness. "You'll have to tell Carl."

"Like, pass it on?" Finn smiled down on both of them, and rested his hand on Puck's head. He closed his eyes again with a sigh. "I can do that."

"To everybody," Kurt urged. "Everybody in Glee. We'll split it up."

"All the gay guys, telling everybody in Glee they love them?" Finn raised his eyebrows. "You don't think that'll be weird?"

"No," Kurt said firmly. He leaned in against Puck, hugging him. "It won't. We do love them. That's kind of the point. You can tell all the girls if you think it's going to be too weird. And — our parents. They're part of this, too. And your brother, Sarah."

"What, you mean the one I never talk to?" She nodded anyway. "Sure, yeah. I do love him. Even my asshole dad."

"I'll —" said Puck, swallowing on a hoarse throat. "I'll tell Burt. And, um. Lady Tess."

"Who else? Frances?" Kurt nodded at Finn. "Patrick?"

Finn made a face. "Yeah, I don't think he'd care much for that. But — maybe," he added hurriedly, at Kurt's glare. "Jeez."

"All right. I feel better." He reached up to Sarah and she helped him off the floor. "If our family's going to be this big, we might as well make sure they know it. Duncan and Cory. Brad and Laurie and Andi."

"Shelby," Puck added. He touched Finn's leg. "And Rachel."

"And your daughter," Kurt said. "Beth. You can tell her tonight in your dreams."

When they ran out of people to say  _I love you_  to, Sarah went back to her own amber-colored den. She could hear the three of them jostling for room in the bathroom. It was kind of a pain, having all four of them sharing one bathroom, but knowing pretty soon they'd have  _five_ bathrooms made it a lot easier to take. The sounds of their conversation settled down into murmurs, and eventually quieted.

She came out around one o'clock to find Puck sitting on the green couch, strumming his guitar. He looked over his shoulder at her.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Nah," she said. She took a seat on the couch next to him, giving him enough room to maneuver his guitar. "I couldn't even hear you playing."

"You just knew I'd be out here?"

"Something like that." She rested her chin on her knee, waiting. He sighed, his eyes roving over the big square coffee table. "You're gonna tell me about it, right?"

"I ain't gonna lie," he said ruefully. "It's fucking crazy to be doing that in front of you."

" _You're_  fucking crazy if you think it's a bad thing," she shot back. "Don't tell me you don't feel better when you do what they say. I know it's what you want."

"Yeah," he said, after a minute.

"So?" She leaned forward. "What's it like?"

The only sounds in the room were the ticking of the clock on the wall and the quiet music of Puck's guitar.

"It's like all my life, people have been telling me I'm not good enough," he said. "Like, that's just the way it was going to be for everybody. Except for Finn. He was the one everybody knew was  _good._  And I knew he was, and — and he thought  _I_  was, too. Which was so fucked up, because obviously I wasn't." He smiled when Sarah snorted. "And then we went to Santa Fe, and I met Nicole and Daphne and Alex."

"I remember Daphne," said Sarah. "She was the one with the really light blonde hair, right? You didn't bring the other ones to the condo, though."

"Yeah, Ma would have loved that, me bringing home Nicole. She was the one who inspired the mohawk on my sixteenth birthday. And  _Alex."_  He laughed to himself, shaking his head. "Six-foot-five, curly red hair all down his back, and a deeper voice than Philip."

She shivered. "Sounds kind of terrifying."

"He wasn't though. He was… kind. He showed me what it could be like, to be — to have somebody in charge of me. To have somebody to call  _sir,_  and to mean it. To belong to someone." Puck thought for another long moment, modulating his picking pattern. "But it's not just that anymore."

"I get it," she said. "I mean, I can see it, how you are with them, but it was really hard on you before you started giving back."

"Yeah." He grinned at her. "You're pretty smart, squirt."

"I just notice things about you," she said, waving at him. "Advanced degree in Noah-watching."

Puck began to sing a quiet ballad. The song was kind of familiar. Sarah thought she might have heard it on the radio.

[ _http://youtu.be/xO2edLk0Ckc_ ](http://youtu.be/xO2edLk0Ckc)

_Highway run into the midnight sun_  
 _Wheels go round and round, you're on my mind_  
 _Restless hearts sleep alone tonight  
_ _Sending all my love along the wire_

"It's Adam," she said, realizing, and he nodded, still playing.

"When I told him we were doing a Journey medley for Regionals, he asked…" He shrugged. "Really, he  _told_  me. This was the song we should sing, from him to me and Kurt. But it's kind of about me and Finn, too. And I asked Rachel if she would ask Finn to sing it as a duet, 'cause… well, there was no way they'd let  _me_  sing it with Finn, right? She doesn't know why I asked, but… yeah."

 _They say that the road ain't no place to start a family_  
 _Right down the line it's been you and me_  
 _And lovin' a music man ain't always what it's supposed to be_  
 _Oh, boy, you stand by me_  
 _I'm forever yours  
_ _Faithfully_

The words were a little sad, Sarah thought, but Puck's face looked peaceful, even as he was singing about being away from Adam. When the chorus ended, she spoke up.

"I know how much you miss him all the time. But I think it's better when Kurt and Finn are doing that for you."

He nodded. "There's all kinds of songs about being a  _slave to love._ But the difference is,  _I_  have a choice. This is something I get to choose. Because I need it, because it's so good, but it would never work if they didn't  _want_  to give it to me. And they do."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Well, duh."

Puck smiled and played the second verse.

_Circus life under the big top world_   
_We all need the clowns to make us smile_   
_Through space and time, always another show_   
_Wondering where I am, lost without you_

_And being apart ain't easy on this love affair_  
 _Two strangers learn to fall in love again_  
 _I get the joy of rediscovering you_  
 _Oh, boy, you stand by me_  
 _I'm forever yours  
_ _Faithfully_

He paused, cradling the guitar in his lap. "It does suck, being away from him, but I think it sucks worse for him, because he's alone. Other than Jacob, nobody in his band really gets it, what he's doing with me. With us."

"That's why all the talking, though. And he can come visit, like he did last week."

"I don't know if that's what he wants, though. I'm pretty sure what he really wants is to be part of this thing we're doing here. But he's on the road, and…" Puck ran his fingers along the strings meditatively. "It means he doesn't get to have what  _he_  needs. Not right now, anyway."

"He gets to decide, though, right?" she said. "If it's enough. And so far, it is."

He shrugged. "I guess. But there's more. That song, it's not just about Adam. I don't know if Kurt and Finn really get this, but it's about the boy in my dreams, too. He's there with me, almost every night, taking care of my kid — of Beth." He shook his head, smiling. "In tonight's dream, he was cutting up her hot dogs into little half-pieces, so she wouldn't choke on them. I mean, what kind of stupid fucking thing  _is_  that to dream about? And he was singing her that song from  _The Wizard of Oz,_  but the ukulele version. I don't even know if he can sing."

"Yeah, you do," she said. "You said he sang at the bar, when you were dancing.  _Take a chance on me."_

"Not real singing," Puck said, then paused, nodding. "Okay, yeah. He did have a nice voice. So maybe I'm not making it all up."

"I bet you're gonna keep dreaming about him until you see him again."

"Whenever that happens. Probably never." He sighed, resting his cheek on the side of his guitar. "You really don't think I'm crazy for wanting… this?"

She gave him a look. "How many thousands of times happier are you than you were before Alex taught you about this stuff?"

"Lots," he admitted.

"And how many people are telling you you can have it?"

He smiled reluctantly. "Three. I guess that's kind of a lot."

"That's three more than most people have," she agreed. "And you totally  _get_  to have it, because you're awesome."

"Not as awesome as you," came Kurt's quiet voice. They both jumped and looked up to see Kurt standing in the bedroom doorway in his striped pajamas, smiling at them. "Come back to bed, Noah."

"Yes… sir." He barely hesitated before adding the title. Sarah hid her grin at the way Kurt's eyes flashed when he said it. He placed the guitar on the couch and hopped up, going to stand beside Kurt, reaching for his hand. Kurt took it and kissed his cheek.

"Good night, Sarah," he said to her.

"G'night," she said.

Sleep didn't come any easier after that, but it was Friday night, and  _she_  didn't have to sing the next day, so Sarah figured it didn't matter so much. She picked up the phone and called the only person she could imagine calling at three in the morning.

He picked up on the fourth ring, sounding a little confused, but awake.  _"Sarah?"_

"Hey, Meemee," she said.

There was a silent pause. Meemee cleared his throat. " _What's the matter?"_

"Actually, nothing," she said. "Which is pretty fucking amazing. No, I just I called to tell you I love you."

" _Oh."_ Another pause.  _"That's it?"_

"That's it. And now you have to say it to Jacob. And tell him you're sorry."

Now he was really confused.  _"For what?"_

"For running away."

" _Sarah,"_ he protested, aghast.  _"We're in the middle of the airport."_

"I'm serious!" She looked at the back elevation sketch of the house, the one that Mr. Preston had helped her draw from the plans. She could see Meemee's room from there. It was mostly going to be a guest room, but it would be his, too. "Is he there? Tell him now."

" _Sar…"_ Meemee lowered his voice. " _I'm… not doing that anymore."_

"Well, that's good, but you have to apologize for all the times you did it before. And tell him you love him. Faithfully."

She heard Jacob say, curiously, " _Who's that?"_

"I'll wait while you tell him," she said.

" _Faithfully?"_  he said, clearly doubtful. Then, to Jacob:  _"Um — it's Sarah, giving me some very specific instructions. Apparently I have to tell you… I love you, and I'm sorry for running away all those times."_

She grinned when she heard Jacob laugh and say,  _"Give me that."_  Then, into the phone: " _What's this all about?"_

"I don't even know, but Kurt started it. We're passing it on. And you're part of Meemee's family, so you're getting it too."

" _Well, that's really nice to hear."_  He sounded pleased.  _"For a minute there, I was worried that somebody was dying or in trouble. Should I tell Timothy I love him, too?"_

"Definitely," she said, nodding. "And you can tell Adam he'll get his I-love-you calls tomorrow, but Kurt made Noah go to bed."

" _So should you,"_  said Jacob.  _"But I'll tell him. Hang on."_  There was a pause, during which Sarah guessed there was kissing or something, and then Meemee was back on the phone.

" _I love you, Sar,"_ he said, and he only sounded a little reluctant. She giggled, and yawned.

"I'm sorry you're in the airport at midnight."

" _I'm sorry you're grilling me about my boyfriend at three in the morning. Good night."_

She turned off the light and set the phone on the nightstand, curled around one of the dozen fringed throw pillows Kurt had selected for her bedroom. Her other hand touched the edge of the elevation sketch of her house. It would be everyone's house, of course, but it was enough a part of her that she could kind of feel like it was her  _I love you_  to everyone in her family.

 _For everyone,_  she thought drowsily.  _A place for everyone to come back to, no matter how far away they go._

* * *

"Toby," Shelby called into the boys' dressing room from the hallway. He sighed, holding up the latest costume crisis.

"I'm a little busy," he called back. "Wade, darlin', get me the red thread. No, the crimson. And that packet of needles."

Shelby stuck her head in, oblivious to the boys' protestations. "They're starting in five minutes. Come on, guys. We need to go with what we have."

He bit off the thread and jammed it through the needle. "Jesse's  _not_  going to walk out there with a hole under his armpit."

Jesse hovered by his arm while Toby sewed up the hole, then quickly buttoned up his shirt, brushing past Shelby into the hallway to join the rest of Vocal Adrenaline. She watched him go, stifling a sigh.

"He's not talking to me," she said.

"He will." Toby set the thread and needle on the table. "Time, you know. He ain't gonna miss you much the first couple months of college, but eventually he's gonna realize how much he needs his mom."

"His mom's going to be a little busy, starting this summer." Shelby turned to Toby, her face resolute. "I'm having a baby. Well, adopting one. Kind of."

"Congratulations," he said. He reached out his hand and shook hers. "I make a pretty good Uncle Toby, if you need a babysitter."

She nodded, looking bemused. "You don't seem all that surprised. I can't imagine how that could be, considering I haven't told anybody yet."

"I got it from the source. Or, rather, the source's boyfriend. You can bet I was aware of it all along." He beckoned toward the door. "Shall we go wish our competition good luck?"

They found New Directions exiting their own dressing room. Will looked back and forth between Shelby and Toby with a wary expression.

"Can I help you two?"

"Comin' to offer my thanks, for a good season," said Toby. Kurt paused beside Toby, and accepted his offered handshake with a solemn nod. "You've been worthy opponents. Now all tricks aside, may the best choir win."

Each of the New Directions students was willing to shake Toby's hand, and once they did, shaking Shelby's hand came easily. When Toby got to Will, he kept it brief and perfunctory. "Good luck."

"To you as well," said Will. "Come on, guys, you need to finish getting your costumes on and move into the green room. Aural Intensity's on first."

He let everyone exit the room and round the corner before pulling Toby back into the room with him. This time he kissed him, hard, running his hands over Toby's tuxedo.

"You look amazing," he breathed. Toby reached up and straightened Will's tie, kissing him again.

"It's gonna be a hell of an afternoon," he said. "Don't let anybody tell you you ain't got a great group here, Will."

"I wouldn't believe it if they did. Even without Jesse, even off the cuff, they all sound fantastic. I couldn't be prouder." Will pushed the door open, his eyes glistening, and gestured for Toby to precede him. "And tomorrow, it'll all be over."

"I hope not, for the kids' sake. And yours." Toby shook his head. "Jesus, Will, you're gonna cry all over your fucking suit."

"Almost definitely," Will said, his voice only a little shaky.

He paused in the doorway, his eye caught by something unexpected. Will chuckled as Toby leaned in and brushed a finger over the ring pierced through his tragus.

"Bold," said Toby. His own voice caught. "You never wear this anymore."

Will nodded soberly. "My kids, they've taken all the risks this year. I figured I should follow their lead."

He stepped into Toby's space, far closer than he'd ever been to Toby in public in Ohio. Toby had a bare second to let out a startled, "Will —" before he was being kissed.

The woman who passed them in the hallway snickered. "Let's go, gentlemen," she said dryly.

Toby let Will end the kiss, feeling a little shellshocked. Will hovered close to his lips, his eyes half-lidded and his breathing uneven.

"Will," said Toby, "you do know that was Olivia Newton-John?"

"Was it?" Will murmured. "I wasn't paying attention."

He cleared his throat once, then again. "I think maybe we should… go be teachers now."

Will laughed, stepping back. "Yeah. That's a good plan." He stroked Toby's vest. "But I'm not finished with you."

"Please don't tell me that offer's not contingent on your group winning."

Will was already halfway down the hallway toward the auditorium. He gave Toby a little wave over his shoulder. "You'll have to wait until tonight to find out."

Wade was the one who met Toby at the door to the green room. She looked adorable in her red shirt and suspenders, but Toby figured she didn't need to hear that, considering she'd resisted dancing as one of the boys from the beginning.

"The haircut is super chic," he said, touching the buzzed edges with his fingers. She smiled.

"Easier to fit a wig over it, I suppose."

"You know, next year, we're gonna need a new lead singer, with Jesse moving on. Somethin' tells me you might be in the running for that."

Her eyes flew open. "Me?"

"I've heard you sing. You've got a damn fine range. I'd like to hear what you can do in your upper register."

"You want me to sing with the girls?" She sounded awed.

"Why not?" he said. "Nobody can say where you belong but you. But I'll warn you, I might make you re-audition for VA if you wanna dance with the other girls."

"Unique," she whispered. "That's her name. Unique."

" _Your_  name," Toby corrected. He hugged her. "You're gonna do fine."

It was clear that Aural Intensity wouldn't offer much of a challenge to them, even with their mash-up of Olivia Newton John and Josh Groban songs. But Toby felt the way the room went quiet when New Directions led with "Faithfully."

Jesse stared at Finn on the monitor, stone-faced.

"Amateur," he sniffed, when Finn went for the high D, singing:  _oh, girl, you stand by me, I'm forever yours, faithfully._

"They sound really good," Chandra said soberly.

"They've been practicing their choreography, such as it is, for less than a week," Jesse said. "A week ago they were still trying to make Gaga work. These kids are nothing. Just go out there and do exactly what we've practiced all semester."

"You mean what  _we've_  practiced," said Giselle. She sounded pissed. " _You've_  been fucking around at that stupid public school."

Shelby held out a firm hand. "Nobody's going to blame Jesse for that. Sending him there was my mistake. But you won't be paying for it. This group is  _tight._  You've been working your butts off, and it shows. Don't blow your advantage by whining about what you can't change."

"Any Way You Want It" was next. Toby watched it with a critical eye. None of it was brilliant, but he saw flashes of excellence. He wondered who'd written the bulk of the choreography; it sure as hell hadn't been Will. Jake Puckerman would have torn it to shreds, and then rewritten it on the spot it to take advantage of Mike Chang's height and Brittany's athleticism — but never mind.

When Puck came forward and sang, Toby watched Shelby out of the corner of his eye, but she seemed entirely focused on Rachel putting her hands all over Finn:

[ _http://youtu.be/lsHhr_wF59U?t=1m10s_ ](http://youtu.be/lsHhr_wF59U?t=1m10s)

_I was alone, I never knew_  
 _What good love could do_  
 _Then we touched, then we sang_  
 _About the lovely things  
_ _Cause he's loving, touching, squeezing another_

When they broke into the opening bars of "Don't Stop Believing," Toby couldn't help smiling. He'd heard Will talk about the magic of that piece enough times. They'd had it taken away from them at Sectionals, when Toby himself had secretly flown out to watch New Directions compete. It seemed only fitting that they'd reclaim it today.

"This might be their last performance," Toby said to Shelby.

She looked at him, obviously confused. "Why?"

"Their principal said they wouldn't be allowed to continue as a club unless they won."

Her brow furrowed into a sour line. "That's ridiculous."

He shrugged. "That principal of theirs, he ain't exactly the most rational man."

"Well, I think he likes me." She gazed at the screen as Puck and Santana shared a verse. "We'll see what he says when I give him a call on Monday."

Chandra tugged on her dress unhappily, looking at Toby. "Mr. Grey, are we going to lose?"

He made a  _pooh-poohing_  motion with his hand. "You can't predict the whims of show choir judges, especially ones as capricious as these. All you can do is go out there and give it all you got. And —" He smiled into her eyes. "Girl, you got a lot to give."

They accompanied their students into the wings, watching the New Directions exit the stage on a wave of jubilation. Shelby restrained their students from engaging with them.

"Focus," she cautioned under her breath. "This isn't about how well  _they_  did. It's about the kind of professionals  _you_  are."

That comment, and Jesse's unwavering anger, launched them into their Queen medley. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was first, mostly because Toby hadn't been at all sure that Hayden and Alice could handle two intense dance numbers in a row. He didn't need to worry about Jesse blowing his pipes, at least. "We Are the Champions" gave Chandra and Jesse a chance to dance in the spotlight while the rest of them carried the vocals.

While the bass line for "Another One Bites the Dust" thumped out over the sound system, Toby could hear the sound of sirens approaching the back of the building. He stepped out from the wings into the hallway, watching paramedics rushing through with a wheelchair.

"What's goin' on?" he asked, trying to stifle his own fears. "Is everybody okay?"

"Girl's going into labor," grunted the EMT.

"Oh, my." Toby held open the second set of fire doors for them as they pushed down the hall. Then he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to both Will and Brad:  _I heard about Quinn. Let me know how she's doing._ That would have to be enough until they could call him. He stayed out of the way while Finn and Kurt and Mercedes and most of the rest of their group followed Quinn and the EMTs back down the hall in her wheelchair to the ambulance.

It was a tense afternoon, waiting for the judges to make their decision. Everybody was a little snappish and rude with one another, and the boxed lunches they brought in for the kids were dry and unsatisfying. Toby walked down to the New Directions' green room and found their lunches, sitting in the hallway on a cart, uneaten.

He received a response text from Brad about ten minutes before they were scheduled to go on for the awards ceremony.  _Baby's born! That was one quick labor for a first baby. Quinn was a champ. No name yet, 6 lbs 4 oz._

Toby shuffled the kids back into the wings just as Will and a slightly stunned group arrived through the same back stage door. This time, he intercepted Kurt, holding tightly to Puck's hand.

"Congratulations," he said softly. Kurt looked back at Puck, who appeared remarkably calm, considering the circumstances. "How's Quinn doing?"

"She didn't even tell anybody she was having labor pains all morning, through rehearsal and the performance and everything," Puck said. "By the time she got to the hospital, she was eight centimeters."

"Wow." Toby smiled. "I'm surprised you're even here."

"Her mom's at the hospital with her and the baby. We'll all head back as soon as this is over." Kurt gave Puck a little push to stand over beside Finn, who put a hand on his back, keeping him close. Kurt dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'm sorry we missed your performance. Rachel stayed, but the rest of us…"

"No, no, it's fine. I'm really glad you were able to be there for Quinn. That was more important."

Shelby broke through the crowd, searching their faces, and rushed over to stand before Puck.

"Is she…?" she said, then stopped. Puck broke into a completely unselfconscious smile.

"She's here," he said. "She's really here."

She didn't throw her arms around him, but she smiled back, and then they both laughed. When Toby touched her arm, she withdrew, still smiling.

He waited until the students had all made their way on stage. "Show choir just don't compare to findin' out about your kid bein' born," he said. "Does it?"

"She's not my kid," she said. Her eyes were far away.

"Sure she isn't." He gave her a little nudge. "For now, why don't you go stand by your  _first_  kid. He still cares about this, at least."

"I care," she protested. She took a few steps in the direction of the stage, then turned back to Toby and held out her hand. He raised an eyebrow at it, and she laughed quietly.

"Shelby Corcoran," he drawled. "Are you bein'  _nice?"_

"I'll take that as a slap in the face, Toby Grey." She brandished her hand more insistently. "Being honest isn't being nice. We've done a good job this year, you and me. Come on. Let's accept this victory together."

"You're so sure we won?"

"I've been in the theater as long as you have," she said. "What do your instincts tell you?"

He took her hand, and they walked out on stage together.

* * *

_Note: this part of the chapter coincides with[chapter 8 of There's An Awful Lot of Breathing Room](http://archiveofourown.org/works/524843/chapters/937211), in which Carl and Irene are at the coffeehouse and Carl gets a call from Finn._

* * *

Finn dug his phone out of his pocket with trembling hands. It didn't matter at all how weird things had been with Carl since he told him about knowing about Rachel. All he could think about was, at that moment, how much he needed him. He moved into the waiting room where the cell reception was better, and called him.

 _"Yes, Finn?"_  he heard. As soon as the words landed, he felt calmer.

"Carl," he said, realizing a little too late that he was surrounded by people and he wasn't speaking very quietly. Luckily, no one seemed to be listening. "I'm at the hospital. Just as we finished our performance at Regionals, Quinn went into labor."

" _What?"_

"Yeah!" He felt his grin stretch wide, big enough to encompass his whole face. He probably looked completely stupid, and he didn't care at all. "It went really fast, I guess, and — it's all done. She had the baby. Puck's a — he's a papa."

" _Is she okay? How's the baby?"_  Carl sounded so anxious, Finn was crying before he realized it. He stifled a sob.  _"Is Puck — all right, Finn, just breathe, all right? I'm right here."_

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he hastened to say, rubbing his eyes. "It's… it's been a long day. We lost, by the way. Which doesn't matter at all. I'm just saying." He smiled again. "She's really cute. The baby. Beth. I didn't know newborn babies could be  _cute."_

" _Which hospital is she at? Do you want me to come over there?"_

Finn almost said  _no, no, you don't have to do that._  But then he realized Carl himself was in Columbus, too, and he wasn't actually very far away at all. "We're at Riverside Methodist. And - yeah. Please. I mean, everything's okay, Quinn's a little shaken up, she wasn't ready this early, but -"

" _Okay. I'll be there as quickly as I can. Just hang on. It's going to be fine. She's young and healthy."_  There was a little pause, and Finn heard his voice catch.  _"Congratulations... and tell Puck and Kurt the same."_

"Thank you," Finn whispered. He felt like crying again. "We're on the third floor, room 3018. And thanks, again."

He closed the phone and held it in his hand, staring at it for a long time. He wasn't sure how long, but he figured it had probably been a while when he heard his mom say, "Finn?" and touch him on the arm. Sarah was beside her.

His mom's smile was as bright and joyous and stunned as he knew his own had to be. He reached out and hugged her tight, and she hugged him back.

"She's fine," he murmured. "She's - perfect."

"I'm so relieved," she said, her voice thick with tears. Sarah waited until his mom let him go, dancing in place.

"Where is she?" Sarah demanded.

"I'll take you upstairs," he said. "Check it out; you're an auntie."

"Tante," said Sarah, tossing her hair. "Come  _on."_

They took the elevator up to the sixth floor, standing close to one another, and paused at the bathroom for each of them to wash their hands. While Sarah took her turn, his mom stood back, regarding him.

"I'm so proud of you," she said.

"Me?" He laughed. "What did I do?"

"Oh, Finn." She shook her head. "Your boyfriend's a father." Her voice dropped to almost nothing. "He's  _your_  boy. He's your responsibility. And this -" She gestured at the hallway beyond them. "This accomplishment, it's yours, too."

He ducked his head, feeling embarrassed. "I… I guess? Maybe a little."

She smiled wistfully. "I think I know how Irene must have felt, after you were born."

He blinked. "Irene?"

"My — the woman I was with," his mom clarified. "I just think you might..." She trailed off, watching his face, her own smile dropping away. "Finn, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." It came out like a croak, and he paused to clear his throat. "She - Irene." Even the name tasted different, looking at his mother. "I don't know. It's probably a coincidence. I mean, it's a big community."

She looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Never mind." He waved it away, beckoning to Sarah as she came out of the bathroom. "Come on, you should come see the baby."

Quinn was resting on her bed, her eyes closed, but she opened them when she heard their soft footsteps. She gave them all tired smiles.

"Mrs. Hudson, you didn't have to come all this way to Columbus," she said. "They're transferring me and Beth to St. Rita's tonight. We'll both be able to go home on Sunday."

"Don't be silly, honey." His mom came right over to her and hugged her, and Quinn hugged her back, obviously startled but not displeased. "Beth's going to be living with me - with us. I know it's complicated, but you're part of this family now. Of course I'm here."

Quinn's smile relaxed. "Thank you. I finally managed to convince Kurt to take Puck downstairs to the cafeteria. He hadn't left the room since they brought Beth back after her bath."

Finn edged over to the warming tray where Sarah was already standing. Beth was resting there, wrapped loosely in a blanket. She wasn't exactly sleeping, but her eyes were mostly closed, and she was making little motions with her mouth. He found himself staring, unable to look away.

"Would you like to hold her?" said Quinn.

He took a quick step away. "Me? No, I don't — that's okay, I'm all right."

"Come on, honey." His mom came over to stand beside the warming tray, watching him expectantly. "I'll coach you through it. Put one hand under her head and the other under her butt, and scoop her up against your chest."

He gulped, blinking at the way her head fit in his hand. It was smaller than a softball. "Like this?"

Quinn watched while his mom helped him gather her closer. At first, he held her out, looking at her tiny fingers, the wrinkles in her skin, but his mom tucked her into the crook of his arm. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Hi," he said softly. He touched her cheek, and she turned her head toward his finger, mouthing his skin with her tiny lips. "Hi, Thumper. You're so  _little._ "

"Didn't feel that way coming out," Quinn said wryly. His mom laughed.

"I remember that. Finn was almost half again as big."

Finn heard the words, but he couldn't think about anything but the bundle he held in his arms. The  _person._  He looked up at his mom. "She looks like Puck."

"Yeah?" She smiled at him. "Babies do that. Look like their daddies, I mean."

"Papa," Finn said immediately. "He's her papa."

"She looks like my  _Ma,"_  Sarah said. It was obvious how she felt about that.

Finn reached out with one arm and pulled her close against him, close enough that she was within inches of Beth's face. She made a startled noise.

"Your Ma was pretty." His mom came over to stand next to the warming tray, nodding at them both. "So that's not so bad. And she looks like you, too. Which isn't bad at all."

"Can I hold her?" Sarah begged. "I won't drop her, I promise."

"Finn," said Kurt. He looked up at him, standing in the doorway, with Puck beside him. The way Puck was looking at him, holding Beth, made him feel incredibly sappy.

"I got her," he said. He tucked her closer against him, even though she weighed hardly anything. Puck made a little noise, something like a laugh, and stepped forward, grinning at them.

"Carl's in the hallway." Kurt was clearly trying to sound casual about this, which brought Finn back into himself a little bit. He gave in to Sarah's clutching hands, waiting until she was holding Beth securely before moving toward the door.

"I'm going to get something to eat," he said. "I'll be back."

Carl was leaning against the wall, being calm, but when Finn appeared, he stood up straight, his eyes riveted to Finn's face, searching for answers. Finn laughed, feeling his face flush.

"I'm fine. Everything's fine."

"I know," Carl said. "I can tell. How's your boy doing?"

"He's kind of… I don't know. Out of it?" He fell into step beside Carl, conscious of the nurses and orderlies and other Glee members passing them in the hallway. He wasn't sure how he could explain Carl's presence if he were asked.

"His focus will be off you for a while. That's all right. You don't need to try to draw it back to you. He deserves this time to be with his daughter."

Finn paused in front of the elevator and pushed the down button. "Yeah, I think it's fine. I'm not trying to get in their way."

"I didn't think you were."

He watched Carl's restless eyes, the way he was scanning the hallway. "Rachel went home already."

Carl looked up, frowning. "I wouldn't approach her. Especially not in a place like this. I was looking for Shelby."

"Sure." Finn gave him a grin. Carl actually rolled his eyes, which made him laugh.

The moment the elevator doors closed behind them, Carl reached out and landed a firm  _smack_  on his behind. Then he grabbed him and kissed him, just as soundly. Finn didn't object to either.

"Do you feel different?" Carl asked.

"Different how?" Finn shrugged. "It's not my baby."

"Maybe not yet." Carl stepped back a few feet as the elevator doors slid open and three women in scrubs entered. "But you'll be living with her, taking care of her. Falling in love with her. Someday, she might feel more like she is."

"Maybe," he said softly. He felt a familiar prickle in his chest, beneath the spot where his tattoo resided. "I think, no matter whose kid she is, this family just grew by one person."

* * *

Shelby found Puck and Quinn standing in front of the viewing window of the maternity ward, speaking quietly to one another. Seeing Quinn there in her pink robe, looking far more beautiful than anyone had a right to look hours after giving birth, brought up all kinds of memories of her year with Davis after Jesse was born. She decided it wasn't the right time to say  _I'm really glad you're not getting married,_ but she couldn't help thinking it anyway.

She moved in close beside them, looking through the window at the sleeping pink and blue bundles. "Which one is yours?"

Quinn looked appropriately confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I see her now." She smiled. "She looks like you."

"Finn said she looks like Puck. Sarah said she looks like your Ma." Quinn shrugged. "Maybe all of those things are true. She's a baby. I guess she looks like herself."

"She has a name," said Shelby.

"No," said Quinn, but Puck quickly said, "Beth."

Shelby nodded. "Elizabeth or Bethany?"

"Elizabeth. For Kurt's mom."

Quinn stared at Puck. "You didn't tell me that."

"I don't know about the middle name." He nodded at Shelby. "You got any thoughts?"

"Why are you asking  _her?"_  Quinn demanded.

Before any of them could say more, the nurse emerged from the viewing room, beckoning to Puck. He bent down and picked up his guitar case, following her inside. Quinn followed, hanging back by the door. Shelby remained outside the window. She could see Quinn demanding answers, the nurse shushing her, and Puck essentially ignoring both of them as he tuned his guitar. When he started to play, they all stopped talking.

[ _http://youtu.be/bzZCl7V34Vo_ ](http://youtu.be/bzZCl7V34Vo)

_Somewhere over the rainbow_  
 _Way up high  
_ _There's a land that I dreamed of once in a lullaby_

 _Somewhere over the rainbow_  
 _Skies are blue  
_ _And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true_

Shelby had heard enough of Puck's dream stories to know that it wasn't once, or twice, but almost nightly. He was smiling down at Beth in her bassinet like his dream had come true, right there in the maternity ward of the hospital. It made her heart ache a little to see it. She wasn't quite there yet, but based on the way she already felt about Beth, she was pretty sure it would happen, given time.

"That's a whole lot of pretty babies."

The woman beside her spoke in a dark, smoky tone. The beads on the ends of her braids—or were they dreadlocks?—hit the window as she leaned forward.

"They really are," Shelby agreed. She could hear Noah's gentle strumming through the glass. He really had a lovely voice.

"I don't think he has any idea what he's getting himself into."

Shelby looked at the woman more closely. "New fathers seldom do," she said slowly.

"Or mothers," the woman added. "Parenting can be treacherous. We don't realize how much it ends up being about us."

"I think that's probably the nature of the selfish human ego. But don't you think parenting is a fairly self-sacrificing act?"

The woman raised one fine eyebrow. "I would hope nothing we do ends up with us sacrificing our self. The self is fairly essential, and vulnerable to neglect. Just like children. Or like submissives like Puck, there."

"You know him," Shelby said. She felt the prickle of the woman's scrutiny. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

"I know your ex-husband, and his former partner. And his former partner's boy — who is in charge of Puck." Shelby watched her mouth tighten. "I know what you're planning to do, too."

"Is that right?" Shelby straightened up. "You've got me at a disadvantage, then, because I don't believe we've met."

"I only know you by reputation. You might know me the same way. I'm Irene Tibideaux."

She did not offer her hand. Shelby took a step back, feeling a wave of unease. "Why are you here, exactly?"

Irene's answer was even and calm. "I'm here to tell you,  _exactly_ , what will happen if you allow any of the people in this equation to be harmed by your selfishness and narrow perspective."

"Hey!" Shelby raised her hackles, glaring at Irene. "You have no idea how I care about these —"

"I know you," she interrupted. "I know how things usually go for you. You take what you want. But that's  _not_  how they are going to this time. Do you hear me? You'd better not be planning to hurt those boys." She narrowed her eyes. "Because if you do, you're going to have more than just Carl to answer to. You're going to answer to  _me."_

The tales Shelby had heard about Irene over the past twenty years, coupled with the spectre she saw before her, were enough to convince her to take the warning seriously. But she stood her ground.

"Puck's trusting me with his daughter, for part of the time," she said. "I take that  _very_  seriously. And I would swear before you or anyone that my intentions here are only selfish in the sense that I want more than  _anything_  to give Beth everything she needs. A home. A family."

"Do you get, though, that this will never be  _your_  family?" Irene said softly. "This can't be your do-over. You don't get a say in what happens to her. If Puck changes his mind —"

"I wouldn't have done this at all if I thought Noah would change his mind." Through the window, she saw Puck notice Irene, tilting his head quizzically. He began to pack up his guitar. "I think you're going to have to talk to him about this."

"No," she said. "I'm going to talk to Finn. That's the way of things in our community. You know that."

"It's  _not_  my community," Shelby said.

"I know. But it's his, and his Top's. And you're going to have to get used to that if you're going to make this work." Irene eased away from the window, nodding at Shelby. "I'll be watching you. You can be sure of that."

"Is that a threat?" Shelby said, as Puck and Quinn emerged from the room.

"Yeah. That's exactly what it is." Irene turned to Puck. Her demeanor thawed somewhat, although she did not smile. "Congratulations, to both of you. You don't know me, but I know Carl and Finn. I'm the owner of the coffeehouse where they've been performing on Saturdays."

"Hey, wow!" Puck reached for Irene's hand, then apparently thought better of it and paused, his hand in the air, but Irene completed the gesture, taking his hand and shaking it once. "You're Irene."

"I'm here to pay my respects. You have a beautiful daughter there."

"Thanks," said Puck, beaming. "Her name's Beth."

"We're going to be leaving shortly," Quinn said. She still looked less than pleased with Puck. She touched the arm of the wheelchair that waited in the hallway. "Would you take me back to my room so I can get ready? I'm sure they'll never let me walk out of here under my own power."

"Carl and Finn are down the hall with Kurt and Carole," said Puck to Irene, helping Quinn into the chair. "If you wanna see them before we take off."

"Thank you," Irene said solemnly, walking beside the rolling chair. "There's nothing I want more than that."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam and Tommy have an argument when Adam finds out the baby has been born. Carole gets a visitor from her past and learns the name of Finn's band. Blaine comes to the hospital to visit someone. Finn has some thoughts about doing better. Glee issues two good-byes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings about references to slave training and D/s. 
> 
> -amy

Five minutes before they had intended to take a break, Adam blew out a breath, digging in the pocket of his sweaty leather pants. Of all the band members, Tommy was the only one to react, sighing loudly and glaring at Adam. The others waited patiently as he pushed the microphone aside.

"I just have to — my cell phone's gone off six times since we started rehearsing "Music Again." That's got to mean something. They wouldn't bother me in when I'm getting ready for a performance unless it was important. And  _they're_  at their own performance, so…" He turned away from the door, hiding his face from stray cameras, and reviewed his texts. " _Oh."_

"That didn't sound like a good  _oh,"_  Tommy said.

Adam laughed. "Yeah, I'm sorry… Quinn had the baby, a month early. Noah's a father. Papa. Whatever." He hid his head in his hand. "Fuck. Tess was right."

"You think you need to call?" Tommy didn't sound any more patient or understanding, but he was asking, and that was something.

"No. They're not in any place to talk to me. We'll have to stick with text for now." He sighed, staring out into the middle distance. "Fuck. Okay. I can do this."

The rest of the rehearsal was close to useless, with Adam largely going through the motions. He wasn't surprised when the director called for a fifteen minute break. Immediately, his phone was in his hands, checking his mail for messages from Noah or Kurt, and sending them both texts of support. He didn't notice Jacob until he actually reached out and nudged him on the arm.

"Rehearsal with dancers has been postponed until after lunch." He crouched down next to Adam, looking at him with obvious concern. "You going to be able to do this?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I'm sorry, I'll — I'll pull it together." Adam breathed evenly, trying not to think about Noah in the hospital, surrounded by his  _real_  family, making this transition without him. When Jacob reached out and took his hand, he came close to losing it.

"I think you should take a break," Jacob said. "If it was my boy having a kid, two thousand miles away from me, I'd be a mess too. Just give yourself a chance to regroup. Maybe take a walk?"

"The press'll be all over me."

"Just through the hotel. You're under surveillance as long as you stay inside the perimeter." Jacob put a hand on Adam's knee. "Okay?"

"Okay." Adam let Jacob pull him to his feet, shaking off his distraction. He left his phone in his pocket and set off for a stairwell, climbing the stairs to the second floor. He figured he could make a reasonable attempt at a walk up there, where the rooms were only full of other people occupied with avoiding the press.

Fifteen minutes later, he returned, feeling somewhat more centered, or at least well enough to be able to perform "Music Again" and "Fever" to the satisfaction of his director. Jacob didn't suggest any more breaks, which he figured was a good sign.

He checked his phone repeatedly whenever he had a moment, but he didn't hear anything further until about three, when they were getting into makeup. It was a picture of Noah, holding a tiny bundle of pink baby. It felt like the same stereotypical picture every new parent posted on social media, but even on the tiny screen of his phone, Adam could see the expression on Noah's face, the relief and joy and calm the baby had graced on him.

He pulled Jacob aside in the hallway, handing him the phone. Jacob smiled. "Aww. Yeah, he looks good like that. What'd he call himself? Not daddy, I remember that."

"Papa. He's her papa." He cleared the screen and put the phone away. "I just had to show someone, and you're about the only one I  _could_  show."

Jacob nodded. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah, I'll be all right," he said.

"No, I don't mean tonight. I know you can do as many shows, one at a time, as you have to. I'm asking if you're ready for this summer. We're starting now, tonight. You're going to announce the tour, and then in a week, we're heading to Europe."

"I know. I  _know."_  He nodded again, psyching himself up. "Let's do this."

The rest of the dress rehearsal and setup went by in a whirlwind. It seemed like no time had passed before Rob Halford was giving them an energizing introduction. Adam put on his show face and sang his heart out, just as he always did, and it felt like the best reminder in the world why he was doing it in the first place.

But when his phone rang with Noah's ringtone, he was still in the midst of a sea of performers and press liaisons and crew. He switched off the ring with a stab of regret.

"Adam!" It was Tommy, pulling him aside. "Don't tell me you're trying to get out of here so soon? This is the kind of press we need."

"I have to." Adam tried to duck around a small crowd of stylists wielding powder brushes and sponges, but Tommy held fast to his arm.

"They'll be there in the morning, won't they? Just let them do their thing tonight. We need you here."

"Tommy," Adam pleaded again. He knew the frustration had to be evident on his face as he surveyed the state of the crowds outside the Hyatt Regency ballroom.

"I can't vanish them for you," Tommy said caustically. "Either you go out and deal with the press or you hide upstairs."

"I'm going to need to go out there, I know. Just… this changes things. This changes a lot of things."

"What does?"

"The baby being born now." He looked up at the ceiling, trying to sort through  _all the things_  in his head, and failing. "I'm going to have to take some time off."

"Time off before the tour?" Tommy stared at him in disbelief. "So what does that mean? A day, a week?"

"At least," Adam said. "I was going to go to Lima at the end of May, but Noah's going to need me  _now._ "

"So, what, you want to cancel the Europe and Japan tour? Don't tell me this is more important than everything you've worked for?" Tommy's anger was starting to show. Adam glanced out the door one more time.

"Not cancel. Modify, consolidate. More days here than there. I can do some of it online, give interviews that way. But —" He fixed his eyes on Tommy. "Yeah. I'm saying this is more important. And I need you to accept that. All right? I'm not screwing around here."

"You are," Tommy growled. "For god's sake, they're kids. They're  _kids._  Whatever you think you're getting permission to do everything you're doing with them —"

Adam came to stand in front of him, between Tommy's angry face and the door. This was not going to end up on the 11 o'clock news, not if he had anything to do with it. "It's as close to full disclosure as I've ever seen, with anybody's family, but — no. They're not kids, not any of them. They're  _young_  adults, but they  _are_  adults. Kurt's as rational as anybody I know." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm still the same person I was at seventeen, and I think most of the rest of us would say we are, too. Noah's starting  _now,_  being the adult he wants to be, and… and, dammit, I want to be  _there for it."_

Tommy buried his face in his hand, groaning. "You've got this  _one chance_ , Ad. Your first song just went platinum, for fuck's sake. And you're going to blow it?"

"I can do both. I'm not going to give either one up." He gripped Tommy by his slender shoulders and made him look up at him. "Am I any less certain this is what I want than I was in December, when I met Noah?"

"This is stupid." Tommy squirmed to get out of his grip.

" _You're_  stupid." Adam gave him a little firm shake. "If I'm fooling myself, it's only because I want this enough to get hurt for it."

"Yeah," spat Tommy, "and the rest of us are going to be the ones picking up your pieces when the next thing comes around."

Adam stared at him in astonishment. "Is that really what you think of me? That I'm just this… what, this needy asshole who takes advantage of my friends?"

He let Tommy go abruptly, breathing hard. Now Tommy looked apologetic.

"It's not like that, Ad. You know I want to be here. I'd do anything to be on tour with you."

"Anything," Adam said flatly. "Like putting up with my shit."

"You're not an asshole," Tommy insisted, but Adam turned away, schooling his face.

"Come on. Let's get through this press line and find Jacob."

He managed to elude most of the microphones as they walked the red carpet, giving a few words to Autostraddle, the Dish Rag, Pop Lab and Allout. By the time he reached Jacob, idling by the curb, he was ready to snap at anyone who spoke to him.

"Heading home, boss?" Jacob asked, flicking on the radio and detaching his earpiece as Adam climbed into the back of the Mustang.

"Yeah. Please." He put the phone to his ear, listening to the message Noah had left. It was brief, but it was  _Noah,_  and he was sounding very human and including the words  _I love you._  He didn't dwell on it, but it warmed his heart anyway.

Tommy climbed in beside him and slumped, staring at the back of Jacob's seat. He flickered a glare at the phone in Adam's hands.

"You're going to be texting them all night," he grumbled.

"No, it's late there. They're already home, and they're exhausted. I just want them to know I'm here when they need me." He scooted over close beside him, waiting for Tommy's tacit permission to touch, and slung an arm around him. Tommy didn't pull away. "Jacob, I need to change my flight schedule for this week."

Jacob, to attest to his own integrity, didn't say anything other than, "Pass the details on to me in the morning."

He ignored Tommy's eyes on him while he returned the call. It went to voice mail, which wasn't so bad. He didn't think he'd be in any position to say no to Noah if he needed something com him.

"Kurt was right; she's perfect," he said after the voice mail chime. "My boy has a little girl. I'm going to do what I can to come visit you sooner. Until then, honey. I'm loving you."

* * *

Burt didn't prefer texting over voice calls, Carole knew, but at least while he was on duty on the floor of the garage, it was a way for him to stay in contact with all of them at the hospital. She'd been sending him one every fifteen minutes, just little updates, some with photos and some without:  _Puck's describing the labor to anyone who'll listen. Mr. Schuester's fielding well-meaning visitors in the hallway with Toby. Quinn seems a little sad._

She'd just sent him one that read  _Beth's having a nap, and I think they're going to make Quinn do the same,_  when she saw Finn stumble through the doorway, looking panicked. She tucked her phone into her jeans pocket. "What? What is it, Finn?"

"You said something earlier," he said rapidly. "Something about Irene. And I have to ask you, because I think — I think I know her."

"You know her?" Carole repeated. She looked at Finn's white face and shook her head, uncomprehending. "You were too young. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't remember her."

"No, I mean…" He looked out the door again, then back at her, swallowing. "African-American. Long braids. Almost never smiles."

Carole could feel the prickle of unease bloom into a hot rush of shock. The last sentence made her ache with sadness, because she could remember Irene smiling so many times with  _her,_  if not for anyone else. But that had been sixteen years ago. "How—?"

"She owns the coffeehouse. She's friends with Carl. And she —" He sighed, gesturing out the door. "She's here."

Carole took a step back and sat down awkwardly on the edge of the bed. "Oh my god."

He looked so regretful. "I can ask Carl to tell her to go."

"No, no." She waved a hand at him, trying to clear her head. "This is okay. I'm just — surprised." She took a couple deep breaths.  _That can stand as an understatement._  The way she and Irene had parted sixteen years ago hadn't been hurtful, although neither of them had pressed for contact after what had happened on Finn's first birthday. She managed to give Finn what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "You didn't do anything wrong. Thank you for the warning, anyway."

She felt her phone buzz and took it out of her pocket, glancing at the screen.  _Call me on the way home,_  said the text from Burt. _You guys gonna want me to pick up dinner?_

_Yes please,_  she replied, trying to keep her breathing even. It wasn't easy, considering the situation. For one thing, the last time she'd seen Irene, she'd been a lot thinner and younger. And Finn — did she — did Irene know —?

"Finn," she said softly. He looked over, still standing in the doorway. "Has she known all along who you are?"

"I didn't think she knew at  _all,_ " he said. "She doesn't know my real name, or at least I've never told it to her. I go by Christopher in the community down there."

"Christopher?" she repeated. He turned red, ducking his head.

"Middle name," he muttered. "It was easy."

"It's fine, Finn. And that was smart, to use another name." She was starting to feel a little more calm. Focusing on Finn's actions would help. "Carl uses another name, too, right?"

"Derek. But he — he told Patrick his real name." He leaned against the door jamb. "They're all coming right now, Quinn and Puck and Beth and Carl and Irene. Where's Kurt?"

"He and Sarah are downstairs with Toby and Mr. Schuester." Hearing Finn say  _Irene_  was a little strange, but it was even stranger to to think Finn  _knew_  her, had been talking with her for months in Columbus. He might know her better than Carole did, now. "Can you stay in here while I come out into the hallway and try to figure this out? At least for a little bit? I want a chance to talk with her alone."

Finn beckoned to Puck as he rounded the corner into the room, pushing Quinn's wheelchair. Puck seemed oblivious to everything that was happening, but Quinn took one look at Finn and frowned.

"What's going on?" she asked sharply. "Are you going to tell me who those people were? Why is Mrs. Corcoran here? Is that guy really Ms. Pillsbury's boyfriend?"

Finn nodded. "Complicated," he said under his breath. "Puck said something about getting ready to go? Can I help with that?"

Carole slipped through the door behind them, leaving Finn to deal with the uncomfortable questions Quinn was posing. She was too distracted by her own situation to feel bad for him. The certainty of being  _too big_ , a state of mind she thought she'd overcome more than a decade ago, threatened to overwhelm her. She smoothed her shirt and stood up a little straighter. Even if she'd wanted to, she wasn't going to be able to avoid this.

_Don't let your fears win,_  she told herself, and they were Irene's words, the ones she'd carried with her all these years.

Carole walked around the corner to the family sitting area. She could see Carl standing in the doorway, talking to someone out of view of the hallway. He caught her eye and gave her a brief nod. That could mean  _this is her,_  or it could just be a friendly gesture; there was no way to tell. She could just see a pair of legs wearing jeans and black boots, facing Carl.

Carole's phone buzzed again, and she switched it off. She heard a low murmuring, and felt her heart accelerate. It was familiar, even if she hadn't heard it for sixteen years. When she was close enough for Carl to see her coming, she paused, just out of view of the seated figure.

Carl looked at her again, and this time she nodded back. He paused in his conversation.

"Irene," he said.

The boots shifted, and she stood up, stepping into view. Carole's first startled thought was,  _she's so short —_ which, of course, she'd always been. Her hair was a little gray, and the lines on her face a bit more pronounced than they were in Carole's memory, but the grave, calm expression was the same.

"So," Irene said, with a hint of a smile. "You're a grandma?"

Carole laughed, and Irene's smile grew.

"You could say that," she agreed. "I'm thinking I'll go with Nana Carole."

"That's good. I like that." Irene hesitated, then held out both hands, reaching for one of Carole's. Carole gave it to her without thinking, taking a deep breath as she felt the warm, dry hands enfold hers. Irene's eyes were just as deep and clear as they'd always been. "Before we say anything else, I just want to tell you that your son is a very fine human being."

Carole felt her cheeks go pink, but she maintained her calm. "Thank you."

"It was quite an experience to get to know him these past four months, and then realize this afternoon who he is. You can thank Carl here for slipping on his name today on the phone."

"My apologies, Carole," he said with remorse. Carole smiled at him.

"I think under the circumstances I should be thanking you," she said. She shifted her gaze back to Irene, filling in all the details that had been lost to her memory. Each one triggered a new set of memories from that year before Finn was born, and the year after: the tea set her grandmother had given her, Irene's bonsai collection, the next door neighbor's cats. And Finn, baby Finn, so compelling that he'd eclipsed even Irene herself in Carole's sight.

Irene did not seem to be objecting to Carole's stare. She stood there patiently, undoubtably caught by her own memories, until Carl shifted, stepping back. "I'm getting ready to go, Carole. Would it be all right if I drove Finn home? I was thinking it would be crowded in your car, with the car seat in the back."

"Oh — yes." She nodded appreciation at Carl. "Thank you. I'll take the boys and drive along with transport when they take the baby to St. Rita's — when they take Beth."

"Beth," Irene repeated to herself. She smiled, nodding. "Very nice."

Carl blinked. "Uh — yes. I'll bring him to the house. He'll certainly want to be there with Puck tonight. Irene, we'll have to play next Saturday by ear, but I'll call you when I know whether or not we'll be coming down. Good night."

Irene watched him go, shaking her head fondly. "That boy. He's so predictable. I'll tell you, when he told me Christopher —  _Finn_  was in high school, I was all set to call him out for conduct unbecoming, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. As far as I can tell, he's done everything right when it comes to him."

"You've known him for a long time?" Carole moved further into the sitting room, finding two unoccupied seats beside the window. Irene sat across from her, crossing her denim-clad legs.

"Our communities have overlapped in several ways over the past decade. Carl's no saint, but I've been impressed with his ethics. It's nice to have a male pro in the community that I can actually support and endorse." She paused, considering Carole. "You want to tell me what you already know about Carl and Finn's situation, so I'm not making any assumptions here?"

"I'm fairly certain I know all of it," Carole said. She chuckled. "Much to Finn's chagrin. I accidentally stumbled into a text with details about his plug training regimen."

"Oh, for—" Irene laughed aloud. "I bet that was an uncomfortable moment for both of you."

"That's nothing compared to what happened at Tessera over Valentine's Day. I'm sure he'd be mortified for me to be telling you this." She gave a loose description of Finn and Carl sitting together at breakfast, and Carl accidentally triggering Finn's vibrating plug, and Burt's reaction. Irene was nearly falling out of her chair by the end, she was laughing so hard.

"Oh, that poor boy." Irene wiped her eyes. "I feel for him, I do." She sighed, smiling at Carole. "This is nice."

"It really is," Carole said. She smiled back. "You're very brave to show up here and confront all of this history at once, but… I'm glad you did."

"Yeah?" Irene asked. She tilted her head. Even that small gesture brought back so many memories."I wasn't sure if you'd want to see me."

"Irene, I'm not going to tell you it doesn't complicate things. I'm in a relationship - a good one."

"So I've heard. Finn's boyfriend's father?"

She couldn't even say the words  _don't judge me_  to Irene, because that was precisely what she'd always appreciated most about her: that rational, critical judgment. She'd needed that to pull her out of the influence of her feelings and into the hands of something else. Carole watched Irene shake her head.

"Carole, I'm not looking for anything from you. Sixteen years is a lot of time. How about we start by getting caught up." She held out a card with something written on it, and Carole took it automatically. "You know how to find me now. Just ask your son."

Carole looked down at the card in her hand. It was bigger than a business card, more like a postcard. On one side was a map with directions to a coffeehouse in Columbus, Java the Hut. On the other was a picture of two crossed guitars and a pair of drumsticks between them, the name  _Labyrinth,_  and a series of upcoming dates for performances. When she looked up again, Irene was gone.

She went back to the room to find Finn, Sarah and Kurt standing on one side of the room, watching Puck getting a lesson in changing diapers from the nurse on duty. He was listening carefully, not seeming bothered by any of it.

Finn looked out into the hallway, then back at her, obviously confused. "Uh, did she…?"

"She had to go," Carole said. "But we'll be in touch." She held up the card, and Finn's expression turned more vague. "Is this your band?"

"Finn, you have a  _band?"_  Quinn didn't exactly look impressed. "With what free time?"

"We kind of hang out together a lot already, so it wasn't — mom, really, I'm not taking any more time away from anything. Including school." He gave Carole a pleading look, his face red. "I swear."

Carole wasn't in any frame of mind to argue with him, but she wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily, either. "We'll talk about it later. As soon as they release Quinn, I'm going to drive Kurt and Puck to St. Rita's, and if they'll let me transport her, I'll take Beth and Quinn with us. You'll have to ride back with someone else."

Finn's eyes got big, but he just nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Labyrinth?" Quinn asked. She was holding the card, wrinkling her nose.

"It's kind of a pun. It's the, uh, plural form of  _labrys?_  The double-headed axe. And my other two bandmates, they both play guitar, so… double axe."

Quinn snorted. "I was thinking it had something to do with your complicated life."

"Or maybe the super hot Bowie as the Goblin King," Puck put in helpfully. He'd successfully changed Beth's tiny diaper and was holding her effortlessly in one arm.

"Who?" Finn asked.

Sarah exchanged a look with Kurt, then poked Finn in the ribs. "You are kidding, right? Seriously, I'm marathoning  _Labyrinth_  tomorrow on Tatenui's TV."

Carl stuck his head through the door, smiling casually. "I'm heading back to Lima. Anybody need a ride?"

"Would you take Finn back with you?" Carole asked, for Quinn's benefit. Finn shrugged and went into the hallway, waving at everyone as he left.

Quinn was moving slowly, putting on her shoes, but Carole could tell she was going to bounce back quickly. She helped her out of bed and back into the wheelchair.

"They'll want to keep you one night," she told Quinn, "just for observation and to make sure you're healing normally. But you're in great shape, and Beth's doing fine. I'm sure they'll let you go home tomorrow. I want to be clear, though, this isn't going to be over with right away. It takes time to process something this important, physically and emotionally."

"I've been prepared to give her up from the beginning, Mrs. Hudson," said Quinn quietly. She looked over at Puck, whispering to Beth. "He should have her."

"Well, you can come over any time you want." Carole smiled at her. "That's me telling you, and my word trumps Puck's, even if he is her father. Papa."

"What  _is_  going to happen when we get home?" asked Kurt. He was frowning. "We all have another seven weeks of school left. Noah didn't arrange to be off school until the end of May."

"We'll settle that on Monday." It was always hard to say  _I have no idea what's going to happen_  to your children, no matter how old they were. In this case, though, she was guessing they'd all be distracted enough not to care much until she could talk to Puck's principal and guidance counselor. "Right now, we're going to get this little girl home to Lima."

* * *

Blaine had to dodge an entourage of teenagers entering the lobby of St. Rita's. They appeared to be following a pretty blonde girl in a wheelchair bearing a well-wrapped bundle. He approached the front desk, smiling hopefully.

"Could you please see if Paula Harmon is ready to receive visitors? Last I heard she was in labor."

The receptionist directed him up to the sixth floor, where the nurse on duty let him sign in as  _friend._

"She's tired and groggy," the nurse told him, "but as long as she doesn't mind, you can go in to see them."

"Them," Blaine repeated, shaking his head. "Wow. Two babies is a lot all at once."

Paula did look exhausted, her hair tied back in a loose ponytail, but she broke into a huge smile when she saw him. She held out her arms, beckoning him closer.

"Come here, you." She hugged him tightly. "What a wonderful surprise! I thought you were at your show choir regional competition today?"

"We were." He moved to the other side of the bed, where the babies were both sleeping in their industrial crib. "We were done by three, and I arranged to come back to Lima for the rest of the weekend."

She nodded. "Well?"

"We won," said Blaine. He peered into the crib, smiling. "Looks like you did, too."

"You can't convince me a c-section wouldn't have been less painful than bearing  _two_  babies, but I was lucky enough not to have to find out." She looked a little proud. "Congratulations, in any case, Mr. Warbler Lead Singer."

"Stop," he said, laughing. "Would you be okay if I held one of them?"

"Knock yourself out. They just ate, and they're both a little drunk on milk." She gestured at the pink and blue bundles. "That's Tyler, and that's Charlotte."

Blaine made a completely undignified noise of delight. "Charlotte? As in…?"

"Of course. You can thank Andrew — that's my husband — for refusing to give in to  _Wilbur._ " Paula didn't seem to be displeased, though. Blaine gathered up the pink blanketed baby, watching her tiny movements with interest.

"I've never held a newborn. I'm happy to learn, though. Would you let me babysit over the summer?"

"You'd be so welcome, but you could really just come over to my house and talk to me," she said. "I'll be home for six weeks before I go back part time."

He smiled into the infant's face as she yawned. "You've got yourself a deal."

* * *

Sunday began rainy and cold, and hadn't warmed up much by noon. Finn looked over at Kurt as he checked his buzzing phone. Puck and Carole still hadn't arrived with Beth. He knew Kurt's dad was inside, waiting to see them and to greet the baby, but he paused at the expression on Kurt's face.

"What?" he asked Kurt. "Who is it?"

"It's… Dave," he said, and sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea how I'm going to explain this."

"He knows about the baby, right?" He watched Kurt nod, making his way around to the passenger side of the car. He took his hand. "You can just blow him off."

"That's what I've been doing since Friday." Kurt climbed the three cement steps and pushed through the door, abandoning his suitcase beside the door with a sigh. When Burt came rushing down the stairs a few seconds later, looking expectant, Kurt gave him a tired wave. "They're about twenty minutes behind us. They had to stop and feed her. Judging by the noise she was making on her way up from Columbus last night, she apparently hates the car."

"Yeah, Carole told me. That's not going to make trips to Akron very much fun." Burt paused to hug Kurt, then offered a hug to Finn. He took it, even though he was feeling pretty hugged out after the weekend they'd had. "I picked up the diapers and formula Carole suggested. You guys are going to hit the books?"

"I guess." Finn made a face, but Burt gave him a stern look.

"Your mom told me the situation with Spanish. A D, Finn?"

"What?" Kurt spun to look at him, and Finn took a step back. "You didn't tell me about that."

"Ms. P said I can do summer school to improve my grade," Finn said.

"You are  _absolutely_  going to do that," Kurt snapped. Finn sighed, shaking his head.

"Can we not talk about this right now? I mean, maybe we shouldn't be arguing during Beth's first ten minutes in the house."

School was part of his stress, Finn had to admit, but Glee club's future was part of it, too, not to mention the fact that Saturday had come and gone without more than a brief  _Good luck!_  text from Blaine. After spending Friday night with Carl, he figured he should be feeling at least a little more relaxed, but the liberal flogging Carl had given him had barely taken the edge off his tension. He didn't think his mom would be too keen on him abandoning his projects and papers for an extended session at Carl's with the single tail — and the other thing he wanted from Carl, he couldn't have. He was just going to have to deal.

_Focus on what you have,_  he reminded himself, and felt the muscles tighten around the plug he was currently wearing.

Kurt found him in the kitchen, getting out bread and a block of cheddar and the cheese slicer.

"I'm sorry," said Kurt, surprising him. "I didn't mean to argue with you. They're your grades."

"No, no. You're right." Finn put the slicer down and took Kurt in his arms. "I could have worked so much harder on my grades than I did, especially Spanish. It's just…" He smiled a little. "Nobody ever told me I should do better, until Tess did. Even my mom was okay with B's. And now Sarah's skipping a grade, and it just… it made me think."

Kurt's eyebrows went up. "You want to skip a grade, Finn?"

"About  _doing better."_  He put a hand over Kurt's tattoo under his shirt. "I kind of owe it to this family, you know?"

"Well, maybe to yourself first." But Kurt looked pleased. "Noah's not going to be thinking about grades, either."

"No, I know. That's kind of a lost cause. I think all we can do is try to figure out how to get him to graduation, any way we can."

"I can be very persuasive."

Finn kissed him. "I know, baby. I just don't know what to do when he talks about dropping out. I mean, now she's  _here._  He's totally not going to be thinking about finals, but  _we_  still have to."

They heard the door open, along with the sound of Beth protesting very loudly. Kurt took Finn's hand. "One thing at a time, all right? Starting with getting your Thumper out of that evil, evil car seat."

Puck let Burt hold her for a good long time, making some of those universal baby-loving noises, before taking her back. He proceeded to walk around the house, providing a running commentary as he went: "This is Kurt's place, baby girl. You're not gonna remember it, though, because Grandpa Burt's building  _your_  house right now…"

"Just Tatenui," Burt insisted. "Don't start with the  _Grandpa_  business, all right? Finn, you want to make enough grilled cheese sandwiches for all of us? Puck, I think I can remember how to follow directions to make a bottle of formula."

Kurt stayed in the kitchen with Finn, watching through the doorway as Puck continued his circuit of the main floor. "I got a text from Tina about a special rehearsal today. A song for Mr. Schue?"

Finn nodded, focusing on not cutting himself with the cheese slicer. "Yeah, I got a text too."

"She said we don't have to be there," he said. "But I think I might want to go. That song…" He wrapped his arms around himself. "I mean, it's cheesy, but the sentiment…  _To Sir, With Love._ It just makes me think about how far we've come this year. All of us, but us in particular. You and me."

Finn smiled, feeling the warmth of Kurt's gaze on him. "You don't think what we were trying to do was silly?"

"Silly?" Kurt echoed, looking surprised. "Finn… no." He reached out and touched his arm.

"Kind of, though. Thinking I could be anybody's  _sir._  I mean, we've learned a lot since then, and it's pretty clear there's a lot more to learn." Finn buttered his bread and laid it on the griddle with cheese on top, watching it sizzle.

"Finn, that doesn't mean what we did was silly." Kurt was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was small and very un-Kurt-like. "You think we don't deserve that?"

"No, I don't mean that." He shrugged. "I think  _you_  deserve better than… than a pretend Top. And I have to face it, Kurt, that's pretty much what it was. Whatever we say about instinct and natural talent, it was just me thinking I could do something I didn't know  _anything_  about. I messed up a lot." He shook his head ruefully. "I'm still messing up."

Kurt moved in closer, staying out of the way of Finn's elbow as he checked the grilled cheese. "That's it, though. You  _are_  still doing it. No matter how silly it felt, it still felt right. We figured it out, didn't we?"

"You think we did," said Finn. "But I think part of why you think that is because you don't have a  _real_  Top. Adam's just making it up, too, isn't he?"

"He's not my Top," said Kurt. He brushed Finn's shoulder with his cheek. "It's more like play with him. Serious play, and we both need it and love it, but he doesn't affect me like that."

"And I do?"

Kurt laughed quietly. "You know the answer to that."

Finn nudged the sandwich in the pan. "If I leave it too long, it'll burn. But if I flip it too soon, it'll fall apart."

"Sounds familiar." He stood on his tiptoes and kissed Finn on the cheek, pausing to whisper in his ear, "You might be just making it up, but it works. Sir."

It left him with the same incredulous feeling he always had:  _I get that?_  and  _he trusts me that much?_  He smiled at his grilled cheese, flipping it carefully. A little cheese came out of the edge and sizzled on the pan, but most of it stayed together.

When he had eight sandwiches cut in half, he put them on a plate and set the plate on the table. Puck was still standing with Beth, who'd fallen back asleep. Finn sidled up beside them, looking over his shoulder at the baby.

"Check it out," he said. He put his arms around Puck from behind. "Look what you made."

"Yeah." Puck sounded completely satisfied. "Step one, anyway. We got time for the rest."

"How about lunch? You got time for that?"

Puck turned his head away from his daughter and looked up at Finn. His adoring expression didn't change one bit. It still made Finn dizzy to see it, for  _him._  "Yes, sir."

He wanted to say  _you don't have to call me that._  But he didn't  _want_  to. "You heard about Tina's plan for the song for Mr. Schue?"

"Kurt said. I don't think I've ever called Mr. Schue  _sir._  But, whatever. I'm part of the group. We've all got people we're thankful for this year, people who taught us things. I can sing that song for them." He nodded at Finn. "For you."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't teach you anything," said Finn.

Puck looked incredulous. "Are you kidding me?" He sang, keeping his eyes on Finn's:

_A friend who taught me right from wrong, and weak from strong_  
 _That's a lot to learn  
_ _What can I give you in return?_

Finn wanted to squirm away, but he stayed where he was, trying to absorb the devotion Puck was expressing.

"I know you want to give that to me," he said at last. "I really know how that feels. But knowing you think I deserve it, and feeling like I can live up to your expectations? That's two totally different things."

Puck tucked Beth's blanked a little closer around her. She made a settled, contented noise in her sleep. "She doesn't have a choice about who she gets as her Papa. I'm just gonna do my best, and keep trying. The only fucking reason I know  _anything_  about how to do that, you dumbass, is because you taught me."

Finn broke out into a surprised laugh. "When did I do that?"

"Kind of your whole life." Puck smiled. "You didn't have to be my friend in second grade, when they moved me from Mr. Richardson's to Mrs. Wright's, but you were anyway. You gave me your best pencil when I didn't have one, and you helped me in math, but you wouldn't let me cut you in line."

"Huh. I don't remember that. I bet you were pissed at me."

"Nah," said Puck. "I didn't want to follow Mr. Richardson's dumb rules. I wanted to follow  _yours._ "

Now he could definitely feel himself turning red. "Because I was fair? Because I wasn't a jerk about it?"

Puck nudged him. "Because I was your boy. Starting then. It doesn't go away, you know?"

Finn's mom managed to get Puck to put Beth down while they ate lunch. "She's just in the other room," she reminded Puck, passing the pitcher of iced tea. "And maybe after this, you can go in and have a nap while she sleeps. Her schedule's going to be all over the place for a week or two. After that, we can help her settle into a routine."

"We?" Puck asked Carole. She nodded.

"Burt and I will take turns staying home with you. We're not going to leave you alone in the house with an infant. Not because you can't handle it, but because sometimes emergencies come up, and you'll need help."

"We'll go into school on Monday and get things settled for the end of the year," Burt added. "You already planned to defer your grades. It'll just be a little sooner now. But that doesn't mean you're not going to make that time up, all right?"

"Yes sir," Puck said.

Burt looked a little taken aback, but after a moment, he nodded. Sarah grinned at both of them, looking pleased.

"Kurt and I are going to Tina's to rehearse this thing for Mr. Schue," said Finn. "I think we should be part of this last song for him. Since Glee's getting cancelled and everything."

"You don't have to stop singing together just because there's no class," his mom said. "Right? The three of you, you could just about lead your own group. Finn, aren't you already doing that, with your band? And all the choreography you and Kurt wrote together. And Puck, and Kurt, you wrote music." She shook her head in admiration. "It's been amazing to see it happen."

"Mr. Schue  _made_  it happen, though," said Kurt. "Without him, we never would have thought we  _could_  do any of those things. He… gave us permission to be writers and performers and choreographers and costumers. That's all we needed." He looked at Finn. "He didn't have to know what he was doing to be an effective leader."

When Finn came into Puck's room after lunch, he found Kurt sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking Puck's shoulder under the blanket. Puck was asleep. Beth was in the crib, still wrapped tightly in her blanket.

"I hope he gets a little sleep, at least," he said. "Quinn told me this morning that he was up for every feeding last night."

"He'll be okay. We should get going, if we're going to be at Tina's at two." He hesitated. "Would you mind if… would it bother you if I called Patrick on the way over? I just want to check on him."

Kurt shook his head. "I wouldn't mind. Although if you'd rather talk to him without me being there, you could call him before we go."

"No, I don't need that." He helped Kurt to his feet, even though he was pretty sure Kurt could stand up just fine on his own. "I want you to meet him, eventually. You'd really like him, Kurt. He's still pretty scared about people from Lima finding out what he's doing. "

"We're all used to keeping each other's secrets," said Kurt. "I can keep this one."

Kurt leaned in and kissed him slowly, letting it develop from a simple touch of lips to something much more passionate. Finn stifled his own moan, feeling himself respond.

"Tonight," he said. "You, inside me."

"If that's what you — yes." Kurt's eyes were wide and glazed. "Absolutely."

"God." It came out like a growl, and he grabbed Kurt's ass, pulling him in snug against his hip. Kurt made a little yelp of protest, grinding against him. "Yeah. I want that."

It made calling Blane an unusually fraught experience, especially considering Blaine answered the phone breathless and clearly excited to talk to him. " _Finn!"_

He was hyper-aware of Kurt eyeing him from the driver's seat, but Finn couldn't keep himself from smiling. "Hey. So, uh, how'd your competition go?"

" _We won,"_  Blaine said happily. " _I saw on the blogs you didn't, so I'll save you the indignity of my asking, but I'm sorry."_

"It's okay. The other guys were better. We're going to have to deal with the fallout, though. So what's your schedule look like for the rest of the semester? I'm gonna have to cut back on Wednesdays for a while, but I'll hold out for Saturdays as long as you can still make it to Irene's."

Blaine's response was obscured in Finn's sudden realization that  _Irene's_  would never have quite the same meaning for him again. He had to ask Blaine to repeat himself.

" _I was just saying that Saturdays are fine, as long as I keep up with my studying. I think I can get most of that done during the week."_

"You're sure?"

" _I'm sure,"_ said Blaine. He didn't sound like he was trying to get away with anything, but even so, Finn thought he could hear a longing in his voice.

"You're not stressing out about finals, are you?"

Blaine laughed.  _"I have plenty of things to be stressed out about without adding academics to the mix. But something nice happened, anyway. My friend had her babies on Saturday."_

For a second Finn didn't know how to respond. Then he realized Blaine had said  _babies._  "Oh, yeah?"

" _She was my favorite librarian when I was growing up. Twins, a boy and a girl."_

"Well, congratulations to her." He decided he wasn't going to get into the subject of Puck and Beth, not over the phone. "So we're on for next Saturday? Me and Carl? We can call it rehearsal if it feels easier that way."

" _You're on. Thank you for calling."_

"You're welcome. Congratulations to you and your choir. I'll talk to you next weekend."

Kurt's expression was hard to read when he hung up.

"Choir?" he asked politely.

"Yeah. He's, um." Finn was going to have to be careful. Being the principal singer of the Warblers probably counted for more in Kurt's book than in Finn's. "He's in his own glee club, at his school. They won their own regional competition this weekend."

"Of course he would be in choir. You said he has a great voice."

"I told you you'd like him. He's — well, he's gay. Gay like you're gay?" Finn made a face when Kurt laughed. "I don't know how to describe it."

"Culturally gay," Kurt said. "Either that, or you mean  _flaming."_

"He's not really. But he does kind of like clothes. I don't get his thing about bow ties. Maybe it's a Doctor Who reference?" Finn shrugged. "Whatever."

Kurt was grinning. "Someday I'll have to ask him about it."

"I got him something for his birthday. Two somethings, really, because Carl convinced me first that I should get him one, and then he convinced me that I should get him something  _else_  just in case he wasn't ready to accept it —"

"Finn," Kurt cut in. "Breathe."

"Right. Uh, well, I got him a — a collar. Like mine."

Kurt nodded. "I thought maybe you were considering that."

He looked across to the driver's seat at Kurt. "You don't mind?"

"I'm not making it a competition, Finn. And I'm not waiting around for you to offer me a collar. You know I don't need that in the same way that Noah does."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't have it," said Finn. He wasn't going to push Kurt about it, not now, when they had so many other things going on.

Kurt pulled the Navigator behind Santana's BMW, parked along the curb down the block from Tina's house, and turned off the ignition. "What's the other something?"

That was easier. "Tickets to a concert. The Indigo Girls are coming to the Greaves Concert Hall in Cincinnati. It's on a Saturday, and I got them before my mom found out about the D. Plus that's right at the end of the school year, so I figure she can't complain."

"My dad's already made it very clear that it doesn't matter that Adam's going to be performing in Ohio in June, because it's in the middle of the week, and I will not be staying out all night at a concert the last week of school." He made a sour face. "I'm still holding out for the Cleveland performance in July. I bet Noah and I can convince him to let us go to that one."

They walked up to the house together. Tina's mother met them at the door and let them in, smiling. "They're all on the back deck. Help yourself to drinks from the cooler. We'll make hot dogs on the grill later."

It was a lot more crowded on the deck than Finn had anticipated. He only sort-of knew half of the kids there. "Michael," he said, stopping the red-haired junior guitar player from jazz band. "What's going on? I thought this was a thing for Mr. Schue?"

"It is," said Michael. He nodded at Tina, opening his pop can. "Tina invited all of us, the accompanists. Nobody ever asked us to do that kind of thing before, to play on demand. Like we were real musicians, you know? We want to thank him, too."

That made Finn feel kind of guilty, like maybe he should have thought about Michael and all the rest of the kids from jazz band and orchestra before. Just because they hadn't been singing didn't mean they hadn't been performing. He held out his hand to Michael, and Michael smiled before shaking it.

"You were awesome," Finn said. "I hope we get to work together again someday, even if Glee doesn't happen next year."

"Yeah, I hope so too. It'll be my last year to do music stuff. My mom's making me give it up to do pre-med." Michael didn't look like he liked that idea very much. He sidled up to Finn, leaning in closer. "Hey, is it true that Puckerman and you and Kurt are moving in together?"

"My mom and Kurt's dad are dating," Finn said automatically. "And Puck went to live with Kurt's dad after his mom died."

"Yeah, that's what I heard. So are Puckerman and Kurt still going out?"

Finn tried not to frown. He shrugged. "I guess that's up to them, huh?"

Michael looked over at Kurt, who was laughing with Tina. "You think you could give him my number?"

The frown slipped out now. Michael took a step back, suddenly wary.

"Uh, never mind. Just a thought. Have a good summer, man." Michael faded back into the crowd with his pop while Finn was left scowling at nobody. Artie filled the void where his eyes fell, giving him an inquisitive look.

"Who pissed in your swimming pool, Finn?"

"Nobody. It's nothing." He made himself smile at Artie. "Not really a very happy party, is it?"

"Oh, I don't know." Artie did a spin that looked effortless, but Finn knew from experience wasn't at all. "Glee was kind of the best thing in my life, all year. We're not going to lose that."

Rachel raised her voice, calling everyone to the deck who'd strayed into the backyard. They made a loose circle around the perimeter, doubling up where necessary, and sat down on the decking or on chairs where they were available. Finn guessed there were easily thirty people there.

"Thanks for coming, everyone," she said. She smiled at Finn in particular, and he smiled back. "I was hoping for a good turnout, but I didn't expect this. Quinn was the one who asked us to arrange this rehearsal, and she'll be there to sing with us on Monday. She had a beautiful baby girl, by the way."

There was a smattering of applause. Nobody looked at either Kurt or Finn. Whatever stories were being told about what was happening with Puck, it apparently wasn't going to be a source of gossip today.

"But this song is for Mr. Schuester, who helped us all realize the kind of people we could be, even if we didn't quite see it ourselves to begin with." Rachel gestured at Tina, who began handing out sheet music. "We'll start with the chorus, and then we'll learn the harmonies. The verses, we can split up between all of us. There's strings, and guitar, and drums. Everyone's welcome to play with us in the auditorium tomorrow after lunch."

The verses were sweet, maybe a little too sweet. After some discussion, they decided to cut the middle verse, because, as Santana said, "I was a fucking person even when I was climbing trees."

_Those awkward years have hurried by, why did they fly away?_  
 _Why is it, Sir, children grow up to be people one day?_  
 _What takes the place of climbing trees_  
 _And dirty knees in the world outside?  
_ _What is there for you I can buy?_

_If you wanted the world I'd surround it with a wall_  
 _I'd scrawl these words with letters ten feet tall  
_ _'To Sir with love'_

* * *

Puck escaped from the auditorium after their performance to call Shelby before her lunch period was over. It took her a few tries to pick up.

" _How'd she sleep last night?"_  she said, without even saying hello.

"Worse than the night before," Puck said cheerfully. "Carole said it'll even out eventually. She's home with her today. I think she might have been cold?"

" _I'll pick her up one of those sleep sacks, the kind you zip up like a bag and has a hood. What about the formula? Is she digesting it all right?"_

"Seems to be fine so far? I dunno. She's got baby poop. That's good, right?" Puck leaned against the cinder block wall of the hallway, grinning. "What a fucking weird conversation to be having at school."

" _I'm sure it's not the weirdest you've had."_

"Oh, no, totally not. I didn't even tell you anything about the ghost in our attic."

" _Sure, Noah. Well, I have some news you might be interested in hearing, even though you don't seem to care about Glee much these days. Maybe about as much as I do. In any case, Glee has another year. Your principal agreed to give it another try."_

"For real?" Puck felt like he might want to do a loud whoop, right there in the hallway, but he restrained himself. "Dude, that's awesome. How'd you swing that?"

" _I have some pull with your principal. And I don't mean I'm blackmailing him or anything. I just pointed out the importance of the arts in the school improvement plan for the purposes of budgeting."_

"I've got to find Mr. Schue. Thanks, Shelby. Seriously, that's really great."

" _Keep me posted about how she's doing this week. You can send pictures if that's easier. We're going to have to figure out the schedule, as soon as I'm done with my grades for this semester."_

"No problem. I've got this covered. Just knowing you're there makes it a hell of a lot easier." He wasn't embarrassed to admit it. "Bye."

Puck walked right into Mr. Schue's office without knocking, but stopped when he saw Matt standing there beside his desk, looking resigned.

"Uh, sorry," he said. "I can come back."

"No, that's okay" Matt shrugged, shuffling in a couple feet to make room for Puck. "I'm just telling him about this being my last day. He knows already, Mr. Schue."

Mr. Schue sighed, setting his glasses down on the desk. "Well, I can't tell you how sorry I am to see you go. You've been a valuable member of this club, Matt, even if you've been a quiet one. I'm going to ask one more time: is there anything you think you might want to sing for us before you go?"

"Dude." Puck reached out and tapped his arm. "You can sing something. I'll accompany you. I've got my guitar with me today. And it's my last day too, so it'll be, like, a duet."

Matt looked so sad. "I don't really know any songs."

"How about  _Over the Rainbow,_  from The Wizard of Oz?" Mr. Schue suggested. "I can play that on the ukulele. And I'll sing with you, too, if it'd feel better to do it together like that."

"It would," Matt admitted. "Yeah, okay. I can do that."

"Is there anybody special in school you might want to have in the audience?" he asked. The question was casual, but Puck thought by the expression on Mr. Schue's face that he knew what was up. He didn't have much of a poker face.

Matt shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I doubt it."

That didn't sound like  _hell no, I don't want anybody listening,_  so Puck decided his answer was probably actually  _yeah, but I'm not gonna ask him since I cheated on him and everything._  Which didn't mean somebody else couldn't do the asking.

Puck didn't bother to figure out Dave Karofsky's schedule. He just roamed the halls, looking in windows until he found him. What was Figgins going to do, give him a detention?

He paused in the doorway and cleared his throat until the teacher looked up from the white board. "Yes?"

"Karofsky to the office," Puck said, holding up a piece of paper. Dave pushed out his chair, watching Puck warily.

"Go on," said the teacher, waving him on. "Come back when you're done, David."

"Dude." Puck fell into step beside him. "Nobody ever lets me leave class without a pass. You have some major mojo working on the teachers."

"Whatever," Dave said irritably. "I'm guessing there's nothing in the office."

"No, but there's something in the choir room." He paused when Dave stopped in the hallway, looking panicked. "What?"

"I can't go to Glee club," said Dave.

"You don't actually have to go anywhere," said Puck. "Just chill out. I know you don't want Matt to see you. But there's a place you can stand and listen, where nobody will notice you. There's no instrumentalist today, besides me and Mr. Schue, so the storage closet will be left alone."

Dave gave him a strange look. "You're going to put me in a closet."

"Unless you'd rather sit in Mr. Schue's office. Whatever. You'll get a better view from the storage closet." He tugged on Dave's arm. "Come on, it'll be fine. It's his last day. He wants you to hear him sing, he's just too embarrassed to ask for it. Plus he thinks you hate him."

Dave started walking again, more slowly. "I kind of do hate him."

"No, you fucking don't. You're pissed at him, but it's different."

They were both silent for a while as they passed two groups of freshman girls, who gave them a wide berth. Puck wondered what this looked like to them, but only for a moment. Mostly he didn't care anymore.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Dave demanded.

"Because Kurt says you're fine," he said, "and whatever Kurt says goes."

That earned him a perplexed stare, but Dave kept walking. "And you're okay with that?"

"I am  _so_  okay with that," Puck said, chuckling. "Plus, I had a kid this weekend, so that trumps everything."

"You had a — what?" Dave stopped again, grabbing Puck around to face him. "What do you mean, you had a kid? You mean Quinn had her baby? When was this?"

"Saturday after Glee's Regionals. Well, kind of in the middle of it. Kurt didn't tell you?"

"Kurt didn't answer my texts," said Dave, then scowled, turning away.

"No, it's fine, I knew you guys were talking already. I think he just didn't know what to tell you. But I'm kind of sick of secrets, all right? So you're just gonna have to tell me if anything is TMI." He smiled, showing Dave a picture of Beth on his phone. "Here. Her name's Beth."

Dave took the phone, looking at the picture with disbelief. "Holy shit."

"Yeah," Puck agreed.

He tilted his head. "She looks like you."

"She looks more like Sarah than me. My sister."

"I know," Dave said. He looked up at Puck, more calm now. "Well, congratulations."

"Thanks." He tugged Dave's sleeve again. "We'd better get there before everyone else."

Mr. Schue was tuning up his ukulele when they walked in, but he was facing the other wall and didn't appear to notice them as they eased open the door to the closet and Dave slipped in.

"I can't believe you got me to do this," he muttered.

"That was all you, man," Puck whispered back. "Can't blame it on anyone but yourself."

He went over and sat on the piano bench and got out his guitar. Mr. Schue smiled.

"So Glee club's got another year," Puck said.

Mr. Schue was mystified. "How'd you find out?"

"Shelby told me. She's the one who pulled the strings."

"Of course," he murmured. "I knew Figgins couldn't have changed Sue's mind that easily, not without some influence. Well, I'm in her debt. And it sounds like maybe you two are planning some joint ventures, here, with your daughter?"

"More like two different ventures, happening in an overlapping kind of way. I don't think we're planning to both be parents together." He shrugged, and laughed. "It's still pretty awesome though."

"And you're going to stay home to take care of her? What about next year? Can we count on your presence in Glee?"

"I don't know if you can count on anything yet," he said. "I'm gonna have to put her first, no matter what. But there's a lot of people in my house who are telling me I don't get to drop out of school."

"Well, I think you should listen to them. You're an incredibly talented young man. And I'm not the only one who thinks so."

Puck kind of liked hearing Mr. Schue say that about him, but he didn't get a chance to tell him, because everyone from Glee started to filter in, and Puck set his guitar down on the risers, sitting beside it. It took a few minutes for everyone to filter in. Matt arrived last, and he sat in the front.

Mr. Schue sat on a stool in the front of the room. Brad was notably absent, but Puck figured he deserved a day off every now and then too. He smiled at them.

"We've got another year."

The tumult escalated from stunned, to confused, to jubilant. Everyone was hugging and jumping up and down, except for Puck and Matt. They moved to the side, waiting.

"Okay," Rachel called, "I think this is the perfect opportunity to start rehearsing for next year's sectionals, immediately…"

"Guys," said Mr. Schue, guiding Rachel back to her seat, "you've all worked really hard this year, and you deserve a break."

"But I have ideas," Rachel protested.

"Take the summer off. Have some fun. Oh, but before you go, we have one more song, and two goodbyes to make. Puck, Matt, if you're ready."

Matt came up and sat down on the stool next to Mr. Schue. He looked completely ill at ease, but he didn't shy away from their eyes.

"This is my last day," he said. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you before. My dad's moving us to Philadelphia. We already sold our house."

This time the hubbub was more concerned. "What happened?" asked Artie, looking bewildered.

"It's complicated," he said. "But this… this Glee thing, that wasn't complicated at all. I had no idea I was going to love it so much. But I did. I really, really did." Matt smiled up at Mr. Schue, who smiled back, a little sadly. "I'm gonna do choir at my next school, if my parents will let me. And I promise I'll sing more. Even if I'm not as awesome as some of you guys."

"You're awesome," Mike said. He looked like he was going to cry.

Mr. Schue picked up his ukulele and began to play. Puck improvised a rhythm part, weaving in some counter-melody. They left Matt to sing lead, the two of them singing a very quiet harmony in the background:

_Somewhere over the rainbow_  
 _Way up high_  
 _There's a land that I've heard of  
_ _Once in a lullaby_

He really did have a nice voice, a quiet one, but it grew a little more confident as he sang. Mr. Schue looked completely thrilled with the performance. As soon as it was over, everyone came down off the risers to hug Matt good-bye.

"You said two goodbyes, Mr. Schue?" asked Artie.

"Puck," said Mercedes. They all turned to look at him. "It's Puck. He's staying home with Beth, now that she's born. Him and Ms. Corcoran."

"You and Ms.  _Corcoran_  are shacking up now?" Santana asked, clearly disgusted by the idea.

"Not even a little," Puck promised. "But this  _is_  my last day. You guys will all get baby pictures this summer."

"I vote ice cream after school," said Finn. They agreed by general acclaim.

Puck made sure he was the last one in the room as everyone filtered back out, murmuring to Kurt that he'd meet them at the car. It wasn't the most subtle of exits, but Dave managed to get from the closet to the hall without anybody noticing where he'd come from. His eyes were red, but Puck didn't say anything.

"You probably can't talk to him, huh?" he said sympathetically.

"Doubt it," Dave said, his voice hoarse. He took off down the hall.

"Dave," Puck called. He turned around, looking quickly around himself before fixing Puck with a look.

"What?"

"I don't even know. It just sucks," said Puck. "And I'm sorry."

Dave shook his head in disbelief. "You're telling me  _you're_ sorry?"

"I get to be that, don't I? Things aren't exactly going your way right now. But, dude, look at me." He held out his arms, smiling. "I'm living proof that things can change."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Puck's dad meets Beth. Burt has a call from Tess that opens up new possibilities. The boys have a going-away party for Angela and clear up some questions about what's next. Kurt talks to Adam about his plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always to Flynn for writing Tess. No major warnings here, just the usual D/s and family drama, and a little Adam angst. 
> 
> -amy

 

For once, his dad was on time. When Puck and Sarah arrived at Lazeza, his truck was already parked outside the restaurant. He unhooked Beth's car seat from the back and brought it inside.

By now, Bilal, the young man working behind the counter, knew them well enough. He hurried around to open the front door for Puck, smiling widely at the baby carrier.

"There's no way she's yours?" he said. "You're so young!"

"Equipment works," Puck said, shrugging. "I must be old enough. You can call it stupidity; I'll call it something else. Her name's Beth."

While Bilal called the owner — presumably his own mother — out from the kitchen to look at the baby, his dad was standing by their table, staring at Puck.

"You knew I was having a kid," said Puck.

"No, I did, it's just…" He shook his head. "I'm sorry. Here, you can put her on this chair."

Puck tried not to glare at him. "Car seats go on the floor." He unbuckled her and lifted her out. "Did you order already?"

"Not yet. Can I —?" He reached for Beth with a questioning look. Puck paused only a moment before handing her over.

"Support her head," Sarah said, dancing around them.

"I did this with four kids," said his dad, smiling at Sarah. "I remember. Noah, she's gorgeous. I always said Puckermans made pretty kids."

"She's not a Puckerman," Puck said, a little too sharply. His dad's head jerked up to look at him, surprised. "She's a Corcoran."

"Is that her mom's name?"

"Kind of." Puck wasn't going to explain how  _over his dead body_  was his daughter going to inherit his deadbeat dad's name. He was ready to be done with it himself. The least he could do was to make sure she didn't get it.

Now his dad was frowning. "What's your plan for taking care of her? Your new dad ain't gonna quit his job and raise her."

"Burt has some ideas. We've got a summer to figure it out." Puck reached for her, gathering her back into the relative safety of his arms. "We're building a house south of town, a big house for everybody. She'll have her own room."

"Everybody." His dad looked like he was tasting something unpleasant. "Noah… her mom, she's Jewish, right?"

"Kind of," Puck said again. Shelby was, but Quinn wasn't. He still wasn't sure what that implied.

"Well… you're going to raise her Jewish, aren't you?"

"What does that matter?" he snapped, rising to his feet. "She's my kid, not yours. Just chill. I'm gonna tell Bilal our order."

Puck was grateful to Sarah for engaging their dad at the table while he escaped to the counter. She paused before him when she came over to tell Bilal her own order.

"I'll tell him about skipping a grade," Sarah said. "That'll give him plenty to deal with. Dude, did you think he was going to understand about Beth?"

"No," he said, setting his mouth. "It's what he said. He said  _four kids._  That means he's got a kid out there somewhere we don't know about."

Sarah opened and closed her mouth. "I knew."

He stared at her. "You  _knew_  he had another kid? And you didn't  _tell_  me?"

"He told me not to. And there was no reason. You weren't talking to him anyway. But now you are, so, whatever." She stared boldly back at him, arms crossed. "Like you tell him  _any_ of the important things in your life. Why would he tell you?"

"I can't believe you didn't tell me." He reached out and took the plate of mujadara from Bilal. Sarah took the other tray, carrying their food over to the table.

Puck let Sarah carry the conversation for the rest of the evening, as she'd promised, answering questions about Beth but not offering more than that. When his dad tried to hug him, he backed away, holding Beth closer to his chest. His dad looked a little disappointed, but not surprised.

"Did your Ma know about the baby?" his dad asked.

"She knew it was a girl," said Puck.

He nodded, sighing. "I'll pick up the tab. Congratulations, Noah. Let's plan to get together again next week? Maybe I could come to your house."

As soon as he got outside, Puck threw open the back door of the Impala and secured the car seat, cursing. Sarah waited in silence until he emerged.

"He doesn't get to come to the house," Puck snapped, stabbing a finger at her. "He doesn't get to be around Kurt and Finn. He doesn't get to shit all over the things that I love,  _again."_

"Nobody said you have to let him," Sarah said.

"I can't  _not_  let him. I can't  _help_  but let him." Puck ran his hands over his face and sighed loudly. "Fuck. I have to get home."

He drove as fast as he could manage and still be safe, parking the Impala next to the Navigator in the driveway.

Sarah grabbed his hand before he could climb out. "I'll take her inside and feed her and stuff. You do your thing with Kurt and Finn."

He stared at her. "I can't. I can't do  _that_ , not if I'm the papa."

"We can handle her for a couple hours," Sarah insisted. "You're gonna freak out any second now and it should probably be with them. It's  _okay."_

Puck took a deep breath and let it out. He squeezed her hand. "Dad… he was selfish. Selfish like me. He decided when to be the dad and when to be the drunk asshole. We never knew when we'd see one or the other, so we had to be prepared for either one, all the time. Which meant that sometimes he'd be one and then switch to the other, and we just had to roll with it, or we got hit."

"You're not him," she said. "And Kurt and Finn and Adam, they  _said_  you could have this. That's not being selfish. Dad didn't have anybody taking care of him."

"Yeah, well, boo fucking hoo." He gave her a little smile as she wrestled Beth's car seat out of the car. "Thanks for looking out for me, squirt."

"I got your back," she called.

Kurt was on the green couch studying when Puck came through the basement door. He rose to his feet as soon as he saw Puck's face.

"What is it?" he asked.

Puck could already feel his words slipping away. "Bedroom?" he managed.

Kurt took his arm and walked him there, leading him to the edge of the bed. That was where Puck dropped to the floor. He put his arms around Kurt's waist, holding on. Kurt rested a hand on his head, stroking it, while he shuddered.

"Your father?" he asked softly.

"I don't want to have to call him that," he said. "I don't want him to be in the same category as your dad or Carole. That's just wrong."

"What did he do?"

"He tried to… to be my dad." Puck sat back and looked up at Kurt. Kurt's expression was so concerned, he almost apologized, but he stopped himself.  _That's what they want,_  he reminded himself.  _They asked for this, just like you asked for Beth._

"Noah, you don't have to see him."

"Yeah, but if I don't, it's like I'm proving that everybody who ever told me  _guys like you don't change_  was right." He wiped his eyes. "Sarah says he's doing his best. If that's true, it's fucking awful."

Kurt pursed his lips. "I think if you're expecting him to live up to my dad and Carole's standards, it's going to feel impossible. Nobody has a dad like I do. Like  _we_  do."

"He's not my dad, Kurt." He could feel the warmth of Kurt's stomach on his cheek. "Yeah, I love him a lot, but he's not the guy who raised me. My dad's the sonofabitch who made me who I am."

Kurt tipped his chin up until Puck was looking into his eyes. "I suppose I should thank him, then. I like you very much the way you are."

"Sappy," Puck said.

"Neil Diamond sappy?" asked Kurt, raising an eyebrow.

"You can be sure. All the stuff he ever wrote about families is probably too religious for you, though." He touched Kurt's hand, still on his chin. "Kurt… there's stuff I don't like to do when Beth is here, but… Sarah said I should ask, anyway."

Kurt's other eyebrow joined the first. "Do you think she's right?"

"Maybe? I'm kind of too freaked out to know."

"I'd say that sounds like a yes," said Kurt. He bent down and kissed Puck. "Well, then… clothes off, on the bed, on your knees. Wait for me or Finn to bring you your collar."

Puck closed his eyes and let out the breath he'd been holding."Yes, sir,"

* * *

The fifth day Beth was home, it started to feel like a pattern. Kurt came upstairs grumpy in the morning because he hadn't slept well. Burt suspected this had more to do with Kurt's concern for Puck, sleeping in his own room with Beth, than it did with the amount of noise Beth made throughout the night — which wasn't small. After dinner was harder: she started crying and wouldn't stop until she finally fell asleep after 9 for a couple hours. Each night, Finn put on his headphones and determinedly focused on his reading, but Burt could see he wasn't getting much done.

The fifth night, Carole stood up in the middle of Beth's after-dinner expression of displeasure, walked over to where Puck was determinedly jiggling and rocking her, and took her out of his arms.

"You're going to go in your bedroom," she said calmly, "lie down on your bed, and sleep. Sarah and I are going to take Beth for a ride in the car while Finn and Kurt study." She looked over at Burt. "All right?"

"Whatever you say," Burt said.

Puck looked sheepishly relieved. He went into his room without another word.

Carole kissed Burt and picked up her purse. "We won't be gone more than a half hour. I'm guessing Puck'll fall asleep quicker than that. He's exhausted."

Burt nodded. "You're probably right. But you do know she hates the car?"

"So it seems, but I've got some tricks I still want to try. Worst case scenario, we come back and start over from where we left off." She put Beth on her shoulder. "Either way, we'll be back soon."

The house was quiet after they left. Burt took the opportunity to survey the messy kitchen. He bagged the garbage and set it by the front door before running hot water into the sink and adding some dish soap.

"A dishwasher," he muttered to himself, reaching for the bottle scrub brush. "First thing in the new kitchen is going to be... a dishwasher. "

Once the bottles were scrubbed and sterilized, Burt went back to the empty family room and settled himself on the sofa in front of the television with an enormous sigh. Then he picked up the phone and dialed Tess' number.

" _Riordan."_

"Tess!" He reached for the remote and muted the television. "It's Burt. I didn't expect to get you directly. Is this a bad time?"

" _Consider yourself to be rescuing me from the accounting summary for the month. It's good to hear from you."_

He laughed. "I'm really grateful to have somebody who does that for the garage. I'm not exactly the detail guy."

" _Oh, there's an accountant here. But as co-owner I have the responsibility to review it, and he's asked for it to be looked at in detail this time, much to my chagrin. Usually it's no more painful than reading a budget cover sheet and signing for expenses."_

"Well, I'm glad to be able to rescue you from something mildly unpleasant. It's momentarily quiet here. I thought I should give you a call and catch you up on the situation."

" _They're sleeping, I take it? I've been looking forward to some, hmm, adult perspective on the situation."_

"I'll try not to sound too much like I'm whining, then." He heaved another great sigh.

" _Whine away. I doubt you're about to complain about spit-up on your favorite outfit, hmm?"_

"No, that's would be Kurt's line, if he actually had burped her. I'll give him time. No, my line would sound more like  _would you just sit down and study and ignore the baby_?"

" _Oh dear. I was afraid that might happen."_

"Yeah. Kurt's escaping to the library and his friend Mercedes' house most nights, but he can't be away from Puck for long."

" _And we're coming up on finals, aren't we? How is Noah managing his schoolwork?"_

"Oh, he got his finals deferred. That's not the problem. It's Finn and Kurt. They're way too distracted, what with Puck being home. We're not letting him be here alone, which means one of us is missing work every other day." He rubbed his eyes. "None of us are sleeping all that well."

Tess sighed.  _"Burt. I… I hope you'll forgive me. I had given some thought to the various ways this might play out. I wasn't able to conceive of many solutions."_

"Yeah, I think there's really no good solution here? The house is just too small for seven. We're all coping. I mostly wanted to apologize about your planned visit next month. You'd be welcome to come up now, of course, but I'm guessing you've got other things going on."

Tess was silent for a moment.  _"I do have difficulty getting away when we're not on shutdown. That's just the problem there, isn't it. Burt… well, I have a wild idea for you, if you're willing to hear it."_

"Wild ideas are our specialty at the Hummel House for Angsty Lovestruck Boys," he muttered. "What are you thinking?"

" _Send Puck and Beth to me."_

Burt opened his mouth, then closed it again when he realized he had too many things to say at once. Meanwhile, Tess was continuing.

" _I'll remind you that I'm a registered nurse, and that there's a large staff here, and our relationship with the local community college means that I could call in additional support if it proved necessary. It would get you and Carole back to work full time, leaving the boys unhappy but with room to focus - and I'm happy to make some threats in Kurt's direction, if you like, though I'd leave Finn to Carl."_

"Uh, that's... I'm wondering if I should feel this relieved at the idea? Handing an infant and Puck off to you -"

" _Yes,"_  she said promptly.  _"Burt. Think a moment about the work my father does, and that I do to a lesser degree. We're something akin to experts when it comes to lost little boys needing some guidance and a firm hand. As a matter of fact, the daytime front desk receptionist is a grandmother missing her babies. It would be simple to take the opportunity to train other staff in the position, and have Ellie watch the baby when needed."_ She listened to the silence for a moment.  _"And privately, between you and me, I'll confide that James and Stephen are two of the lost boys that came through Beau's halfway house, years and years ago. Not all of them become family, but those two are, now."_

Burt wanted to say  _yes,_  but he forced himself to think as rationally as he could. "How would they get down there to you? I don't think I'd be comfortable with Puck driving Beth alone."

" _I'm privy to some inside information here,"_  Tess said contemplatively.  _"Adam was planning to ask you if he could drop in, a few days from now, or a day or two. You might send him to me as well. I've been meaning to have a word with that young man before he goes on tour."_

"Adam..." Burt chuckled to himself. "You think  _Adam_  would chauffeur Puck and the baby down to Tessera?"

" _I do. And that would also keep him from distracting Kurt. And I suspect Adam's presence might also mean Angela's."_  Her voice became gentler.  _"Why don't you discuss this with Carole and give me a call back, unless you have more questions and concerns right now."_

"I don't know what to say." He smiled, feeling his shoulders relax. "Once again, you've managed to solve my problem. I'm going to have to find some way to repay you."

" _Make sure Kurt keeps his grades up,"_  she said wryly.  _"Now, I really should contact Adam and make him aware of the possibility, if you're all right with that?"_

"I'm all right with it. We'll call you tomorrow, all right? And thank you again."

" _Good night, Burt. Don't forget to take pictures. They do grow up so fast."_

Beth was miraculously asleep when Carole and Sarah returned. Sarah checked on Puck and, when she reported that he was actually asleep too, Carole carefully put Beth down in her crib and left them.

"I suspect they won't sleep much longer, but at least it's something." She held up a hand to Sarah, who high-fived it. "Teamwork."

"We are the awesome Hudson-Puckerman women," Sarah said solemnly, then grinned when Carole laughed. "My mom used to say  _the awesome Puckerman women,_  but that's not exactly right here."

"Do I have to ask you if you have homework?" Burt wanted to know.

"I am so far caught up, it might as well be September already." Sarah gave a little wave, walking backwards toward the basement. "'Night."

He pulled Carole down onto the couch, feeling her relax against his shoulder.

"Hudson-Hummel-Puckerman is pretty cumbersome," she mused, taking Burt's hand. "I think we'll have to figure that one out another day." She turned to him with a sigh. "I had an unpleasant conversation with Mr. Schuester today."

"Oh, no!" Burt said. "I thought Glee club was in the clear?"

"You might recall that Mr. Schuester also teaches Spanish? And my son, unfortunately, is far enough behind that he's currently getting a D." She rolled her eyes at Burt's expression. "I didn't ask how Puck managed to get higher scores on the tests."

Burt shook his head. "A D isn't Finn's usual, is it?"

"Not at all. He's always been a solid B student. In any case, Mr. Schuester suggested summer school."

Burt gave her a sympathetic squeeze. "Summer school. That's not going to interfere with your family reunion, is it?"

"No, the session only lasts six weeks, and it doesn't begin until the week after we get back from the reunion. I think it would be good for him." She shrugged. "It would get him out of the house at least once a day, anyway."

"Well, I have some news for you." Burt quickly explained Tess' proposal, including Adam and Jacob driving them down. She listened to the whole thing, and then gave a great big sigh. It didn't sound like an unhappy one.

"That would be really wonderful," she said. "Puck would listen to Tess, wouldn't he?"

"I think he might very well do that. Let's wait and find out if Adam can do this, to begin with. If he's not willing to drive Puck down to Tessera, that'll make…" He paused at Carole's laugh. "What?"

"You're really questioning if Adam will agree to take  _Puck_  to Tessera?"

"It's not a question of  _want_  to," he protested, as she continued laughing. "Doesn't he have this tour thing? And eighty-seven-thousand news interviews?"

"I think if Puck needs him, he'll be here," she said firmly. "I'd bet you on that."

* * *

Kurt heard it first in a text from Finn during English class. He wasn't about to answer it and risk having his phone taken away, but he could read the screen from where he was sitting.

_Carl says we need to come over tonight for a "goodbye party for Angela." Did Adam say yes to the slave thing?_

Kurt had to wait until fourth period was over to call Puck. It took several rings for him to pick up.

" _Dude, I need a splash-proof phone case. Now I got formula on the keypad."_ Despite the complaining, Puck sounded sanguine enough. _'Sup?"_

"Do you know anything about Adam agreeing to take Angela on?" he asked. The 'as a slave' would have to be understood while he was standing in the hallway.

" _He didn't say anything to me. You want me to give him a call? I think he'd be awake."_

"My curiosity's got the best of me. You can send a yes or no text and I'll call you back for details. How's Beth?"

" _Hungry. She's digging this formula. Personally I think it's pretty nasty. Have you read the ingredients?"_

"We can argue infant cuisine later, Noah."

" _Yes sir. Puckerman out."_

He sounded far more sassy than Kurt usually permitted, but the idea of disciplining Puck at the same time he was figuring out what it was like to take care of an infant seemed a little unfair. Puck needed to be present and focused on Beth right now. As Carole had said,  _that's the sacrifice you make when you become a parent: a piece of yourself in exchange for creating a new life._

Finn caught up with him in the hallway, moving toward Mr. Wright's American history classroom. "Well? Anything?"

"Noah's calling him. I hadn't heard anything, not since yesterday, anyway."

He shook his head. "I just can't think of any other reason why Angela would be leaving."

"Was Carl upset?"

Finn shrugged. "He never really gets upset. I mean, not in front of me, anyway. I think we'll just have to wait and find out."

Waiting wasn't something Kurt was very good at. He managed to pretend to pay attention enough that Mr. Wright didn't make him come up to the board and draw timelines of European countries' involvement in the first World War. But Noah's text, saying only YES, prompted an involuntary noise out of his throat. He turned it into a cough.

Finn gave him a pointed, demanding frown.  _Well?_

Kurt nodded, and Finn nodded back, musing to himself. That left Kurt to deal with his own questions and thoughts until after class, when they both went straight to Glee. At least there they could talk without anybody questioning why they were getting along so well. They clustered together behind the piano, Kurt dialing Puck's number and handing one earbud to Finn to listen in. This time Puck answered right away.

" _Okay, you're going to have to hang on, because she's still eating, but — holy shit, Kurt."_ Puck's words were coming out faster than he could articulate them.  _"It's not just Angela. I mean, yeah, Adam said yes, but he's not just taking her on as a slave. He's coming to Tessera to get trained, by Lady Tess, to handle her."_  He sounded overwhelmed.  _"I mean, holy shit!"_

"He's coming to Tessera? When? Isn't he going to Europe next week?"

" _I'm not finished. He's coming here to pick her up, and me too. I'm going with them. Me and Beth."_

"Oh!" Kurt looked at Finn. He was nodding approval. "That's wonderful. Did Tess invite you?"

" _She already cleared it with your dad. Kurt — I really want to go. I mean, really. But I need… I have to ask your permission, you and Finn."_

Finn leaned in to speak into the little microphone on Kurt's earbuds. "Dude, you have it."

" _Fuck."_  Puck wasn't any less overwhelmed, but the relief in his voice was obvious. " _Yeah? You're sure?"_

"We can deal without you for a while. How long does did Adam say she wants you to stay?"

" _Until the end of the school year."_

Finn paused, taking this in. He looked a lot more sober when he nodded again. "Yeah, of course, that makes sense. You guys'll have a place to be, people to help. Adam can figure out what he needs to take Angela on tour with him. And we'll study and finish our finals. It'll be fine."

Kurt could feel the conflicting emotions inside him fighting for dominance.  _Noah at Tessera with Adam_  made him a little dizzy with excitement, but  _Noah gone for a month and a half_  was daunting.

" _Kurt?"_  Puck asked, still sounding tentative. " _What'd'ya think?"_

"No question, sweetheart," he said. "If Tess is requesting your presence, it would be rude to say no. Maybe we can come visit you after school is out."

" _Hey, yeah!"_  said Puck excitedly.  _"We totally need to do that."_

" _You_  need to call Shelby. Even if she's not making decisions on Beth's behalf, I think you'd better ask."

" _Yes, sir."_  This time his voice was rich and grateful. It gave Kurt a little thrill.

"We'll come pick you up after school," Finn put in. "Carl said we're supposed to come to his house tonight for a goodbye party for Angela."

" _Roger. I'm gonna call Lady Tess after I burp Beth."_

The silence remaining in Puck's wake left them looking at each other, bemused.

"This is good," Finn said. He sounded reasonably certain.

"No, it is," Kurt agreed. He looked up at the risers, where the rest of Glee was assembled. Mr Schue was pointedly not watching them, giving them a little space to finish their call. "It is. I'm sure my dad said yes because of Beth, but… I think it's good for Adam, too. He'll get some time with Noah."

Finn handed Kurt's earbud back to him. "It would be totally weird for me to give you a hug right now, wouldn't it."

"Yeah." Kurt gave him a smile, trying to be brave. "You can sing about your feelings instead."

* * *

Angela met them at the door when they arrived at Carl's house. Her expression remained reserved until they were all inside and she'd closed the door behind them. Then she broke into an excited smile, taking Beth's carrier from Puck's hands.

"Oh, Puck, she's beautiful."

"You're going to see a lot of her at Tessera," he said. "You're really gonna be there with Adam?"

"On a trial basis," said Carl, emerging from the hallway. He beckoned them into the kitchen. "Come eat these sandwiches. It's a small going-away party, but it'll have to do, considering how soon she'll be leaving."

"How soon…?" Finn looked back at Kurt as he followed Carl.

"A matter of days, I imagine. Adam told me he'd arrange his flight out here right away. I'll pick him up at the airport. He can stay here until you're packed and ready to go."

"I'm ready," Puck said immediately. Carl laughed. He seemed completely calm, but Kurt had to wonder.

They took a seat at the island while Puck unbuckled Beth from her car seat and handed her carefully to Angela. Carl passed a plate of sandwiches down the counter toward Kurt.

"I think two weeks to begin," said Carl. "It helps that Angela and Adam already know one another, but there has to be accord between a slave and its owner. We won't make any assumptions until Adam has a chance to meet with Tess and learn what's expected of him."

"But you're feeling good about it?" Kurt asked Angela.

She smiled, her arms around Beth. "It would be a privilege to take some of the burden of being on tour off Adam while he focuses on his music."

"He'll need a listening ear," Carl said. "And a safe space. I know what it's like to tour with musicians. In a community where power and dominance are political, he'll need the relief of a companion with whom there's no question about his position."

Kurt considered Angela while she talked quietly with Puck. He'd never considered the relationship between a dominant and a submissive outside the realm of the sexual.  _If that wasn't present, what would it be like?_  He couldn't conceive of it.

"What about you?" Finn asked Carl.

Carl looked at him steadily. "What about me?"

He indicated the kitchen. "I'm just… this place. Your office. The… everything. Angela runs everything, doesn't she?"

"I'm in charge, Finn." Carl's voice was quiet, but Finn's restlessness stilled at his words, and he nodded, whispering  _yes, sir_  under his breath.

Angela seemed completely happy to hold Beth for as long as Puck would let her. When Beth began to fuss, she picked up the diaper bag and walked toward the parlor, calling, "I'll be right back."

Puck watched her go with uncertainty. "You think I should help?"

"Come on, she's fine." Finn nudged him with his foot. "She wants to. Just like you do."

"That's one of the most important differences between a slave and a sub," said Carl. "The submissive is taken down by the dominant. The slave is taken down by its own drive to submit. Its owner gives it a space in which to exist as an empty vessel, to be filled with the desire of its owner."

"She always said she served you because she loves you," Finn said.

Carl smiled, looking pleased. "We have a deep trusting relationship, borne of years of submission and routine and mutual need, but it's not the same as a friendship or marriage. My goal is not to keep her in her place. My goal is for her to become that empty vessel in order that she may serve another owner, and for her to leave my care feeling as safe and fulfilled as she does with me. Because it's not about me, or about her. Do you see?"

Finn shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Not really?"

"No?" Carl was still smiling as he watched him. "Are you sure? How would it be for you to take Patrick to that place of submission?"

"Oh," he whispered, just an intake of breath. Kurt saw on his face exactly how that would be for Finn. "He — do you think he would want that?"

"I think he needs it as much as anyone I've ever seen," Carl said, nodding. "It can be profound to let go of one's identity, to become  _nothing,_  at the pleasure of the one who owns you. It's not for everyone, but for those who want it, it's hard to be satisfied with anything less."

Carl left him to think about that idea and turned to Puck, who was looking a little lost without Beth.

"And you, my young friend. You've taken on your new identity with enthusiasm. How does it feel to be a father?"

"I'm a papa," Puck said. His eyes flickered over to Kurt, then back to Carl. "Uh, sir."

"It's fine," said Carl easily. "You're going to be whatever she needs, I can already tell. I would caution you to maintain some identity, however, because children do eventually grow up and leave you, and it can be dangerous to forget how to be yourself in the face of alternatives."

Puck looked a little confused by Carl's words, but he nodded. Kurt reached out and took his hand, smiling at him.

"Noah's still our boy, when he's not busy being Beth's papa."

Carl nodded thoughtfully. "It can be like that. You might find he's happier, however, if you allow yourself to be relieved of your responsibilities at the whim of your Top."

Kurt watched Puck's face relax, his expression yearning.

"Yeah," he said. "But I can't really do that, right? I just have to keep waiting for it."

"Heh." Carl chuckled. He looked at Finn. "With your permission?"

Finn was startled, but he nodded. Carl reached out and took a firm hold of Puck's arm, raising him off his stool and onto his feet. Then he swatted him hard on the behind. Puck yelped.

"You don't do that," Carl said sharply. "You don't  _wait for it._  You  _beg for it."_

"I —" Puck looked over at Kurt, a little desperate. "I can't do that. Not when there's no one else to take care of her."

"Hey!" Finn said. Now he sounded affronted. "What do you mean, no one else? You don't think we can handle taking care of her when you need somebody?"

"I don't mean that," Puck tried to say, but Carl cut him off with another swat. Kurt winced as Puck cried out. He guessed those were not particularly forgiving blows.

"On your knees," he ordered, pointing at the floor in front of Finn. Puck sank down, watching Carl, but turned his gaze on Finn as Carl redirected his head toward him. He was right between Finn's legs, his face level with Finn' groin. "You've served him sexually, like this? Answer with words, boy."

"Yes sir," Puck said, staring up at Finn.

"Well, when you're begging for what you want, you can think of what you're doing as another form of service. Specifically, when you place your needs in his hands, you're giving him the trust and respect he deserves. Don't take that away from him by making the decisions for him about what he can or cannot do. Who's in charge, Noah?"

"Finn," Puck said immediately. He wasn't upset now. His focus remained locked on Finn, who was staring down at him.

"You're sure of that."

"Yes sir."

Finn rested a hand on Puck's head. Kurt knew Puck would love to stay right where he was, was happiest when he was on the floor under their hands — wanted, in fact, to do whatever they told him to — but Kurt had never really understood  _why_  that might be.

"Beg him," Carl commanded.

"Oh, fuck." Puck accepted the third swat without complaint, jerking forward and catching himself before he could fall. "I need — I want —"

"It's okay to want things. Go on."

He took a deep breath. "I want… my collar. And the cuffs, god, please, and the chains, hooked to Kurt's bed." He blinked up at Finn. "I want you to fuck me until I come without you touching me."

"Nice," Carl said. He didn't look embarrassed by the personal nature of Puck's admission. No wonder, considering what the five of them had done at Tessera back at Valentine's Day. But Puck hadn't been anybody's slave then. "Finn?"

Finn let his hand move from Puck's head to his throat, clutching it in his grip. He hummed a sound of approval at Puck's gasp.

"You're my boy," Finn said. "You'll take what I give you, when I want to give it to you. And I'll make sure Beth's taken care of when I do."

Kurt felt himself relax as Puck submitted willingly to Finn's touch. He sighed and turned to Carl.

"I've definitely been holding back," he said quietly. "I didn't want to add to the burden of Noah being a new father. But it's not a burden for him to give up control, is it?"

"Not when he knows it's safe," Carl agreed.

Puck had his head on Finn's knee when Angela returned, resting peacefully there while Finn stroked his soft stubble. She paused when she saw him.

"I'll just keep Beth with me until it's time to go," she said to Kurt. "If that's all right."

"Yes," Kurt said. Puck closed his eyes.

"I was just telling Kurt about the importance of providing a slave with a safe place to let go," Carl said to Angela.

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Would you be willing to tell him what you need in order to feel safe?"

She turned to Finn. "Whatever responsibilities I have, I need to know they're being met by someone at least as competent as I am."

Kurt smiled. "That… doesn't sound like it would be easy to find."

"It just means I need multiple contingencies in place, in advance. In the case of leaving Dr. Howell's care for more than a week, I will only need to make a few phone calls to be certain that my obligations are met. I won't be worried about Dr. Howell's needs; that's not the place of a slave. I trust he'll do what's best for himself. But the house, the office, those things are covered, until he can train a replacement."

When all the sandwiches were gone, Angela packed a drowsing Beth back into her car seat. Puck wasn't much more coherent than his daughter; Finn coaxed him into a standing position, but he had to be led out to the car and told to climb into the back beside her.

"We'll work all the details out," Angela told Kurt. "You and me, I can tell we're the detail people."

He fist-bumped her, which made her laugh. "You're going to help Adam get what he needs," he said. "I can only feel grateful for that."

Puck was silent in the back seat, watching Finn and Kurt. He appeared to be complacent. Finn sat in the back while Kurt drove home, watching over Beth, but she slept the whole way.

"I think she likes Angela," said Finn to Kurt as they carried her back into the house.

"I like Angela, too," said Kurt. "Which is a really good thing. I don't think you can fake-trust somebody when you're doing what we do. I'll bring her upstairs if you take care of Noah."

"Don't you want to be there?"

"I think I need to talk to my dad first. I kind of can't believe he set this up without talking to me. And then I'm going to try to catch Adam before he goes into rehearsal."

He waited while Finn brought Puck inside. Puck's eyes tracked Kurt and the car seat as he walked, but he didn't object to Kurt taking her, and his expression was calm.

 _He trusts us,_  he thought. It was an incredibly comforting idea, especially because he was so certain of it.

Carole, Sarah and his dad were sitting upstairs in the family room with the television on, but nobody was watching it. They stopped talking when Kurt walked in, but he was pretty sure they were discussing the baby.  _Beth,_  he corrected himself, just as Puck would have done.  _That's her name._

"So," he said, arching an eyebrow at his dad. "We just got back from Carl's. Apparently Angela is planning to follow Adam on tour."

"Is that right?" Carole said, smiling.

"Yes, and before that, he'll be at Tessera. With Noah and Beth." He set Beth's carrier down and crossed his arms. "When  _exactly_  were you planning to tell me Noah was going away?"

His dad set down his beer and met his confrontational stare. "I don't know. Maybe after we solidified the plans? I hadn't even confirmed with Tess the dates of his visit."

"No?  _Noah_  seems pretty certain about it. He heard it from Adam. I had to hear about it thirdhand through Finn from Carl."

"Noah's going away?"

They all stopped talking to look at Sarah. She looked— as she seldom did — scared and very eleven.

"Just for a few weeks," Carole said, putting out a hand to touch Sarah's arm. "Tess can't come up here, so she wanted to have him and the baby come to her."

"Which makes total sense," said Kurt, "but there's the matter of it happening  _really soon?_  Carl said Adam —"

"You're going to need to talk to Adam directly, Kurt." His dad was frowning. "There are too many people involved. You don't want this to turn into a game of he-said-she-said."

"I will. I'll call him after this. I just don't get why you did it this way." Kurt moved closer to Sarah and put an arm around her. "Don't we deserve to be involved?"

"Now, wait a second," his dad said, holding up a hand. "You need to remember, Kurt, who's responsible for you here.  _All_  of you. I'm the parent, and I'm not saying that to throw this back into your face. It's my responsibility to make sure everybody gets what they need. Everybody needs different things. Right now, your priority is school. Puck's priority is learning to be a father.  _Our_  priority is working full time, earning enough to pay the bills."

"What's my priority?" Sarah tilted her head. "And if you say  _getting good grades,_  I'm gonna throw up a little in my mouth."

Burt leaned back. He tilted his head an equivalent amount in the same direction, mirroring her movements. Kurt almost laughed at them before he remembered that he was mad.

"That depends," his dad said. "We kind of need you here, running this building project."

Sarah glanced over her shoulder, as though Puck might be coming up the stairs right at that moment. Kurt was pretty sure he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"I  _kind_ of need to be with my brother," she said.

"Are you saying, if I don't let you go with him, you're going to take off and follow him anyway?" he countered.

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"Sarah," said Carole. Kurt recognized that voice. It was the  _I'm-so-disappointed-in-you_  voice, the one he'd heard directed at Finn on very rare occasions.

"I'm just being honest. You want me to lie and say I'm cool with him moving to Iowa for — how long? It's until the end of school, right?" She huffed out a breath. "So  _say_  a month and a half when you mean a month and a half, for fuck's sake."

"Sarah!"

She slouched on the couch, scowling. "Sorry."

"You're not saying she can't go," said Kurt. "Are you?"

"I'm not saying anything. I'm asking: is this a deal breaker? Would I get in big trouble for yanking you out of school for the last month and a half? Probably. Would it be worth it? I'm trying to figure that out."

Carole moved over until she was on the other side of Sarah. "If you needed to come back to turn in your end-of-year projects, would you do that?"

"I guess, but… couldn't I just turn them in remotely?" She turned toward his father. "Tatenui, school is dumb, but I'm not going to break the rules just to get what I want. Well, not all of them, anyway. I can do the stuff I have to do. I'm not gonna mess things up for you."

"For us," his father said, and she nodded. He took off his ball cap and ran a hand over his head, staring up at the ceiling while he thought. "Okay, you're not making this easy, but… I think we can make it work."

"I can go to Tessera?" Sarah said, sitting up excitedly. "With Adam and Noah?"

"You can go  _later,_ " he said. "There's no way I can send you off with them until I talk to your principal. We'll figure it out." He suffered Sarah's hug, giving Kurt a good-humored smile. "You, on the other hand, will have to cope with one boyfriend for a little while. Although I'm guessing Adam visiting now and at the end of the semester will sweeten the deal?"

"Don't try to placate me," Kurt said. He pulled out his phone. "Would you listen for Beth while I call Adam? She's okay in her car seat, right?"

"Oh, Kurt." There was that  _I'm-disappointed-in-you_  tone again. Carole got up and went to the car seat, unbuckling her and lifting her tiny drowsy form out. "You can't leave infants in their car seat for hours and hours. Their oxygen intake goes way down."

"She hasn't been in there for hours and hours," he objected. He went into the kitchen to make his call, while Carole took Beth into Puck's bedroom to rock her back to sleep.

He got Adam's voice mail, but when he hung up and called back right away, Adam picked up.

" _I'm just finishing up this meeting. Can I call you back?"_

"I don't know," said Kurt. He didn't care how petulant he sounded. "Can you talk to me before arranging things behind my back with my father?"

There was a pause.  _"All right, Kurt. Just a moment."_  Another pause, and Kurt heard a door close.  _"Nobody's arranged anything yet."_

"Oh, believe me, there's plenty of arranging going on around here." He tried to suppress the tears, but they sprang up in his eyes anyway. "You're going to be at Tessera for six weeks?"

" _No, honey. I'm going to be at Tessera for six days, then fly to London, then Amsterdam, then back to Tessera for three days. Then I think it's Berlin, Scotland and Finland, then back again…"_

"You're insane." He could feel his anger ebbing, though, as Adam listed his tour schedule. "How are you going to keep that up?"

" _I'm taking a big pay cut to pay to reschedule all the flights, for one, but you know I've never been in it for the money. I'm counting on Angela to help make it all possible, because there's no way I could do this all on my own. And I'm going to get to spend the days in between with Noah and Beth. Do I need a better reason?"_

He sniffed, wiping his eyes. "My dad's keeping me here to work on school. I think he's going to let Sarah come down to Tessera in a few weeks, though."

" _Really?"_ Adam sounded pleased about that.  _"Noah will appreciate the company. So I think I'm going to arrive on Saturday. Do you think you could take enough time out of your busy schedule to spend a night with me and Noah at Carl's house?"_

Kurt felt the possibility of that buoy him out of his frustration and fear. "I'm going to risk saying yes without asking my dad. As in oh my god, yes."

" _I'm sorry this is happening so fast. I'm trying to just let everything go and not obsess about any of the details."_

"No, I'm the detail person," said Kurt. He laughed through his tears. "We talked with Angela about her coming with you on tour. I hope that arrangement works out for both of you."

" _I'm still not exactly sure what it will entail, keeping a slave, but I'm going to trust Tess to explain it all to me."_  His voice grew soft.  _"We're okay, then? You and me?"_

"Of course we are, Adam. I'm not upset with anybody. Okay, maybe my dad." He made an ineffectual gesture with his hand. "I'm going to try to stay focused here and finish sophomore year on a positive note. And then I'm going to — well, I don't know what I'm going to do.  _You're_  going to be on tour starting at the beginning of June."

" _And there's plenty happening in May. I'll do as much as I can over phones and radio from Iowa, but I'll be back and forth between Europe and the States a lot. I'm going to come visit you as much as I can. I have three tour dates in Ohio, you know."_ Kurt could hear him smiling.  _"You think you might want to come see me on stage, honey?"_

"That would be another oh my god yes." He saw Carole tiptoe out of Puck's room, flash a quick smile, and head out the other side of the kitchen. "Can I make a request?"

" _Anything within my power to make happen?"_

"Keep him satisfied. I don't mean — well, okay, I do mean that, but I'm talking about  _all_  the things he needs. He's changed, serving like this, running the house, and letting us be in charge of him. It's been so good for him. Tonight, Carl pushed him to ask for — to  _beg_  for what he wanted, and it was… I don't know. Transformative. Sobering. Please, Adam."

" _I will, Kurt. I promise you, I'm going to make it my duty to keep Noah at peak performance. He's got such potential, you know? Talent and looks and heart. It's a killer combination, but I know at his core, Noah just wants to serve. I could see that from the first day I met him."_

Kurt took a long, deep breath and let it out. "Thank you. I think if you get to be with him, I can live with being away from him for that long."

" _I know it's going to be hard, honey, but I'm glad you see how it's going to benefit him. All of us, really."_

There was a pause. Kurt heard Adam clear his throat.

" _I'm sorry,"_  he said.  _"I didn't mean to — there's an implicit assumption there, about who 'all of us' includes."_

"Adam," he said, sighing.

" _No, I need to be careful with that,"_  Adam insisted. _"You've all got plenty of growing to do, and I've got my career, and… I know we'll make it work, somehow. It might not look exactly like what I was expecting it to look like, but it's what we have. And it's a lot, Kurt."_

"Adam," Kurt said again. He put a hand on his chest. "I got a tattoo with you on it. Not just you, but  _all_  of us, all five of us. That means something, okay? And you can say I'm sixteen and I don't know what I'm talking about, but — I'm not that sixteen-year-old, all right?"

" _All right,"_  Adam said. He sounded resigned.  _"I'm going to try to salvage this meeting, okay?"_

"Thank you for ditching the suits to talk to me," he said. "I love you. Noah loves you."

All of the other things he wanted to say could wait for another day. He put his phone away and went to join his family.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carl says goodbye to Angela. Everybody says goodbye to Puck. Finn falls apart on his way to see Blaine. Dave tells Kurt about summer camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for minor angst, D/s and discipline. Also music.   
> -amy

 

Carl was sitting at the kitchen counter when Angela came downstairs in the morning on her last day. She paused in the doorway.

"You're going to make me cry," she said. "Aren't you?"

"It's part of my job," he said.

She didn't appear to be upset by this, but he opened his arms anyway, and she went into them, shaking and shuddering silently as he petted her back. Angela had never learned to cry loudly.

"It's only temporary," he said. "Keep that in mind. Everything's on a trial basis. There's no reason to be scared. If it doesn't work out, you can always come back and we'll work something else out."

"I believe you." She was already back in control, the tears wiped away; Angela was nothing if not efficient.

"Is there anything you can think of that you want me to tell Adam?" he asked. "I've already given him a debrief on basics, but I'm going to rely on you and Tess to work out most of the protocol between the three of you. It's not going to be the same with any other owners, but she knows my style very well. And Adam, I trust his instincts."

"Yes, sir."

She waited for him to release her with a gesture. When she went to the coffeemaker and found it already brewing, he thought she might cry again, but she just moved on to the next thing.

"You're the best girl," he said. "There's no one like you, Angela."

"Thank you, sir." That smile was real, he knew. She wasn't faking. "I'll need an hour of your time this afternoon to go over household financial matters."

"I'll be sure to have it recorded, so I can listen to it again after you're gone."

She shook her head slightly. "Begging your pardon, sir, but I won't be far away. You can always call me."

"You can bet I will, many times. To ask about Beth's progress, for one thing."

That made her smile again. He got up to pour his own coffee, and she didn't stop him.

"It's my understanding he won't be at Tessera the whole time, so you'll be traveling with him. Jacob will need to give you a rundown on his security protocols. You won't be expected to protect Adam, but you'll need to know who to contact and how in the case of —"

"Carl."

He stopped and took a breath. Her voice was very kind.

"I'll learn everything I need to know from Tess, as you said. There's no need to worry. She's very thorough."

He busied himself with something in the corner of the kitchen. "Yes, of course."

It was a quiet breakfast, but not a lonely one. When he saw her crying again later, he didn't embarrass her by calling attention to it in the midst of her duties. Eventually she recovered and moved on, and everything was okay.

While he was reviewing his schedule for the day, she brought him the phone. He looked at it quizzically.

"You might consider giving Emma a call. Your two month anniversary is this week."

He blinked at her. "Two months since what?"

"Depends on what's most important to you. It could be worth celebrating on Wednesday or Saturday."

He called after her as she disappeared into the laundry room, "Do I need to warn Adam about your subtle sense of humor?"

"If he can't detect it, it won't matter, will it, sir?" she called back. "Take your pills."

* * *

Finn hadn't expected anyone else to be awake. He spread out the wrapping paper on the coffee table and was well on his way to figuring out how to make those special neat corners when his mom appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Jesus, Mom, you scared me," he said, exhaling. She came slowly downstairs, nodding at his gift.

"Is that a tiny football jersey?"

"She'll grow into it," Finn muttered. He quickly finished his wrapping and set it under the table.

"I made her a baby blanket," she said. "And a hat, and booties. Of course, that was before I knew that she hated having anything on her head or her feet. Maybe she'll change her mind about that when it gets cold enough."

She sat down beside him on the green couch. "Are their bags already in the car?"

"Puck left them in the garage. He wasn't sure which car Adam was planning to drive. Or maybe Angela's driving, I don't know." He felt like he wasn't sure where to put his hands. Eventually he rested them on his legs. His mom put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"He's going to be okay. It won't be like when he was in Santa Fe, because you'll know where he is. And you'll be able to talk to him, every day."

"I know." He stared at his hands. "It seems selfish for me to care about missing one person. Like, one particular person."

"I think that's the way love works, honey. For most of the people I know, anyway."

"Yeah, but most people have one person to miss. I've got… a bunch."

She laughed quietly. "Don't act like that's such a crime. You're not taking anything away from anybody by being who you are, Finn." She put out a hand. "Come on upstairs and we can make breakfast for him."

Finn smiled halfheartedly. "He'll really hate that."

"Yes, I know. He can cope, on his last day."

But when they went up to the kitchen, Puck and Beth were already awake. Puck was making an enormous pan of eggs with mushrooms and other things Finn couldn't tell, while dancing with Beth in the front pack and singing "Fever" under his breath. He grinned at both of them.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Puck twirled his spatula, sending flecks of eggs across the kitchen. "Welcome to my world. Shelby's on her way. She wants to check the car seat in the Impala before we drive to Iowa." He rolled his eyes. "As if I haven't already been driving her around town in it. Whatever. She just wanted to say bye."

"She's going to go down to Tessera too, right?" asked Finn.

"Eventually. I guess she's got stuff to teach, but she's got her principal wrapped around her finger. I think she'll be able to get time off as soon as Nationals are over." He scooped a big spatula full of eggs out of the pan and deposited it on a plate, waving it under Finn's nose. "Hungry?"

"Totally." Finn caught the plate, grinning, and grabbed a fork before sitting at the kitchen counter. He was going to try not to get stupidly sentimental about the last meal Puck would cook for him for another month.

Puck did a little side step, still weaving around the kitchen. Beth seemed unfazed. "She's got adoption paperwork for me to sign before I go down."

Carole frowned. "Formal adoption paperwork? Isn't that a little premature?"

"Shared custody," he said. "It's totally legit. I mean, she's got a job and a clean record and stuff. Davis said nobody's gonna contest it. And it'll give her protection."

"I mean, for your own sake. What if it turns out to be a problematic relationship?"

"I trust her." He shrugged at her. "I'm serious. She's as cool as any grownup who's ever believed in me. Even if her son is a huge prick."

His mom looked at Finn with clear appeal, and he could only shrug too. "Don't ask me. I'm no expert on Shelby, but she's been cool to us."

Puck made breakfast smoothies to go with the eggs. Beth didn't care for the blender noise at all, and expressed her opinion at loud volume, but by that time, Kurt and Sarah were awake anyway. The only person who looked grumpy to be woken up was Burt, and he had the presence of mind not to say anything about it. He just sat down at the table and drank his coffee before taking a generous portion of eggs.

"These are great," he said with his mouth full. Puck beamed at him.

"I hope James lets me in the kitchen while I'm there, at least part of the time, or I'm gonna go fu- I'm gonna go nuts."

"I suspect you'll find things to do while you're there," said Carole. "And we'll call you. Don't worry about trying to stay in touch; you just focus on your little girl."

The longer they sat there, smiling at one another, acting like an ordinary family around the breakfast table, the worse Finn felt. Eventually he decided sitting still was worse than walking away. He didn't even bother to make an excuse, he just pushed his chair out and headed downstairs, where there was at least nobody to ask him questions. It was possible they recognized this, because nobody came after him. He did get a text heart from Kurt, which made him smile.

Shelby arrived before Adam. Finn let her in the garage door when he heard her car pull up.

"My mom double-checked the car seat herself," he said. "And she's a nurse, so I think you can trust her, even if you can't trust Puck."

"It's not about trust," she said. "I do trust him. It's that I couldn't live with myself if something happened and I hadn't bothered to do everything I could to keep her safe. I'd say you'll understand when you're a parent, but maybe you do understand, in a way. I remember how it was for Carl and Davis."

The awareness of Shelby being both  _Carl's former lover_  and  _Rachel's mom_  were too vivid for Finn to feel comfortable with the conversation they were having, but he was still grateful for her words. "Thanks. Yeah, I guess I do get that. The being protective thing."

"I still don't really comprehend how it is for you," she said, shrugging. "But Carl taught me early that just because it's not my kink doesn't mean it's not somebody's. I mean, I own fifty pairs of shoes. I don't think I'm one to talk about having unusual fetishes."

Finn grinned. "Sounds like you and Kurt would get along."

"It's entirely possible. Noah speaks highly of him. Both of you." She looked steadily at him, her eyes calm. "I can see this isn't easy for you."

"Yeah." He just shrugged. "That's not his fault. I want him to get what he needs. I'll figure it out."

"What about what you need?"

"Don't worry. I'm not going to, you know, forget to put my own oxygen mask on before I do his."

She laughed. "All right. I'll have to trust that's true."

_I have too many people looking after me for that to happen,_  he thought. "You want to come upstairs and meet everybody?"

Shelby looked back at the garage door. "I think… I'd better just see Beth and Noah and get back on the road. I managed to take a half day off work for a doctor's appointment to justify being here."

"I'll bring her down," he said. He didn't blame her for not wanting to get caught up in introductions. That was an awful lot of people all at once. But when he went upstairs to tell Puck that Shelby had arrived, Burt immediately got up from the table and disappeared down the stairs with him.  _He's a_ _nother person, feeling responsible._

Another thing occurred to Finn later as he helped Kurt check Puck's room for important things to bring. "Does Shelby know about Adam?"

"Just that he exists, not details. But like Noah said, he doesn't want to hide anymore." Kurt closed the second drawer. "Socks, check. Jeans, check. Reasonably nice suit, check."

"Well, isn't she going to be down there at Tessera with him and Puck and Beth?"

"I'm not sure how they're going to time things. Maybe." Kurt paused and looked up at Finn. "Finn, what's getting to you?"

He wasn't sure how to answer. Kurt waited in patient silence until he came up with something. "There's nothing I can do about that."

"About what?"

"About Shelby. About what she does. About Adam. About Puck."

Kurt thought about this for another long moment. "Are you saying you're upset because... you're not omnipotent?" At Finn's blank look, he clarified, "You're not all-powerful? You can't control Shelby's actions, or Adam's, or even Noah's, really. Is this a surprise or something?"

"Maybe I'm just used to having a little control." Even as he said it, Kurt gave him a  _look,_  and he laughed. "Okay, maybe that was an understatement. Just — you really don't care that Puck will be  _gone_  for a whole month and a half?"

"I think it's different because Adam will be with him for at least some of it." Kurt pushed against Puck's duffel's zipper with both hands, then tried zipping it shut. "It doesn't feel at all like when he was gone before. It feels like — he's in good hands. Even if they're not my hands."

Finn nodded slowly. "I… trust Adam with him."

"And with me?" Kurt asked.

Finn put an arm around him. "I trust  _you_  with you."

Kurt looked pleased. He leaned up and kissed him. "Thank you for seeing me that way. Sometimes I can't imagine who I would be right now if I didn't have you in my life, believing in me."

Shelby had disappeared by the time they got downstairs with the last-minute bag. Puck took out three of the bags from the trunk of the Impala and somehow managed to make the duffel fit inside underneath them without appearing to take up any additional room.

"I swear, this car has a link into another dimension," said Burt, shaking his head.

"Seems appropriate," called Puck.

The van that pulled up into the driveway had tinted windows, but Angela was the only one who got out of the back. She gave Burt and his mom a pleasant smile.

"Adam's waiting in a secure location," he said. "We're going to go pick him up after this."

"You're not going to call him  _Mr. Lambert,_ are you?" asked Puck curiously.

"He specifically told me not to," she said.

Kurt was clearly disappointed not to see Adam, but he didn't look all that surprised, either. "Would you please tell Tess we said hello?" he said. "And Stephen and Alex and James and everyone."

"And Lydia," Sarah added. "And the horses."

Angela laughed. "I promise."

They all hugged Puck, Kurt taking the longest. Finn went last.

"I know Mom said you don't have to call," he said into Puck's ear. "But I'm telling you, you do. Same deal you had with Adam, you have with Kurt. Call him every night. Understand?"

"Yes sir," Puck murmured. It was a quiet response, but his downcast eyes told Finn that he'd been heard. Puck would take the promise seriously, because it was for Kurt — and he knew Adam would keep him focused enough to follow through.

Finn kissed him roughly on the side of his face and released him, taking a step back. He moved toward the Impala and wedged himself in through the back seat. Beth, sitting backwards in her bucket. She stared at him in apparent surprise.

"You're going to be, like, ten times bigger the next time I see you," he said. "Your papa's gonna tell me everything you do, though. And he'll text me all the pictures." He didn't want to startle her more by putting his face in hers, so he just kissed the nearest part of her, which was her bare foot. "Bye, Thumper."

He thought about going back inside and letting everybody else wait with Puck until Adam arrived, but he decided that was kind of a dick move. Instead he stood by the wall, out of the way. Eventually Kurt came over to stand next to him.

"I put his collar in the duffel," Kurt said.

Finn played with the hem of his t-shirt. "Adam doesn't have to use it."

"Yes, he does. You'll recall it's what Noah asked for." Kurt took his hand, hidden from prying eyes on the street behind Finn's leg. Not that anyone would be walking by the house in the middle of the morning on a weekday. He sighed. "Come on. We've got school."

"You okay?" Finn asked.

"I am. Are you going to see Patrick tonight?"

"I think so. I mean, I haven't said I'm not coming, so he'll expect me."

Kurt shook his head impatiently. "You don't have to go. If you need to be home, you can do that."

"No, I think… I think I should go."

Kurt didn't ask him again, but he held Finn's hand as he drove him to school. That told him Kurt wasn't mad at him for choosing Patrick over him.

He went through his day, feeling a little too empty to be upset about anything. It was hard to focus like that, with a piece of him missing. By the end of the day, he was almost ready to call Carl and tell him he wasn't going to Westerville.

Quinn was mostly avoiding him these days, but today she came over to him at the end of Glee.

"Kind of pointless to keep having class," she said. "It's not like we're practicing for anything."

"I guess. I don't mind having a class I can just show up for and not have to work too hard."

She nodded. "He left this morning, didn't he?"

Finn tried not to look surprised. "Who told you?"

"He did." She gave him a smile. "Puck's been a lot more… friendly recently. Almost a regular guy. Practically no trace of the asshole anymore. I wonder how that happened."

"He's in love with his kid," Finn said.

"No, before that. Since Mercedes did that fundraiser." She waited, but Finn stayed silent. "You're really not going to tell me anything about why?"

"I'm really not. You'll have to ask him yourself."

She sighed in irritation. "Yeah, I did, and he said,  _you have to ask Finn."_

That actually made him smile kind of a lot. On the way home, he asked Kurt, "Okay if I take the Navigator to see Patrick tonight?"

"I thought you were driving Carl's car?" Kurt asked.

"I think I'm going to go alone tonight," he said.

Thankfully, Carl didn't seem bothered by Finn's request.  _Just make sure you come home early,_  he told him in his text.

Finn drove southeast out of town on his usual route toward Dalton. He felt fine until he got to Bellefontaine, when he dug in Kurt's middle compartment for some music to listen to. Kurt almost never listened to CDs anymore, but there were a few he'd left behind, including a Pretenders album. Finn slid that one into the CD player. He only knew a couple of the songs, but he sang along to the ones he could.

And then he got to the seventh track.

_Oh, why you look so sad?_   
_Tears are in your eyes_   
_Come on and come to me now_   
_Don't be ashamed to cry_   
_Let me see you through  
_ _'cause I've seen the dark side too_

_When the night falls on you_   
_You don't know what to do_   
_Nothing you confess  
_ _Could make me love you less_

_I'll stand by you_   
_I'll stand by you_   
_Won't let nobody hurt you  
_ _I'll stand by you_

He should have turned it off. He should have just shut the damn thing off, and not listened, and definitely should not have started singing along. All of the stupid lyrics were seared into his brain, each one tied to a specific memory.

Mostly he couldn't stop thinking about holding Puck in his lap, that night on his bed at Puck's old house. That act hadn't been about control or submission or even anything particularly sexy. It had just felt so fucking  _right._

Finn didn't pull off the road. He kept driving, his eyes on the traffic, making sure to follow every street sign, because the last thing he wanted was to get stopped by a police officer and have to talk to him. He was pretty sure he would start crying and not be able to stop if he had to do that.

_Here,_  he texted Blaine as he pulled into his dorm parking lot. He climbed out of the Navigator and walked up to the side door where Blaine usually met him. He managed to compose himself while he waited.

Or at least he thought he had, until Blaine opened the door and saw him standing there. Finn didn't even say one word to him, but Blaine's smile faltered.

"What's the matter?" he said.

Then Finn was crying, he was losing it right there on the stone steps of Blaine's dorm. Blaine put an arm around his waist and steered him into the building and up the staircase, murmuring anxious, meaningless words.

Thankfully, they managed to get to Blaine's room without anybody stopping them in the hallway. Most of them knew Finn by now, at least by name and in passing, but the hall was empty and quiet. Blaine shut the door behind him and let Finn pace the room.

"Can I get you anything?" Blaine asked. He reached for the box of tissues, but stopped himself. "I forget, you carry a handkerchief."

"I'm sorry," Finn said. He wiped his eyes. "This is… it's been a hard day. I had to say goodbye to my boyfriend."

"Oh, Finn, I'm so sorry," Blaine began, but Finn waved a hand.

"Not like that. We didn't break up. He just went on a trip. He'll be gone for a while, until school's out."

Blaine went to his bed and sat on it, still watching Finn cautiously. "Do you want to sit down?"

Finn knew Blaine well enough by now to be sure what he wanted when he said that. He sat against the wall, letting his legs hang over the edge of the bed, and opened his arms. Blaine looked surprised to have that offered to him, but he didn't hesitate to move in close beside Finn, accepting the hug.

"You don't have to," Blaine said breathlessly. "If you don't want to."

"Yeah, I know. I won't. I mean, I do want to, and if I don't want to, I just won't."

Blaine nodded. He settled in against his chest. Finn didn't exactly feel more relaxed, but he appreciated Blaine's effort. "You don't have to talk about it. We can talk about something else."

"Okay. Is there anything you want to tell me about?"

"We've been rehearsing for Nationals. Is — is that okay to talk about?"

"It's fine." Finn wasn't even hurt by the idea that Blaine's group had won their regional competition. He smiled. "Did you guys sing  _A Change in My Life?"_

"We did. Our choreography is usually pretty clean and controlled, but they let me have a little leeway on that one, kind of a half circle with me in the center." He sighed a little, leaning in closer. "I wish you had seen it. People put stuff on YouTube, but it's not the same as being there."

"I've heard you sing it before, at Jeff's party. You guys were awesome. I'm not surprised you won. What else did you do?"

" _Somewhere Only We Know,_  by Keane, and a Frank Sinatra swing standard,  _Let's Get Away from it All._  That one's fun." Blaine broke into a quick, earnest verse:

_Let's take a boat to Bermuda_   
_Let's take a plane to St. Paul_   
_Let's take a kayak to Quincy or Nyack  
_ _Let's get away from it all_

_Let's take a trip in a trailer_   
_No need to come back at all_   
_Let's take a powder to Boston for chowder  
_ _Let's get away from it all_

"They wouldn't let me scat, though," he continued in his ordinary voice. "Trey did it, and he sounded great."

Finn couldn't help but give him an admiring smile. "Yeah? You sound so different when you sing this stuff."

"Not at all like Patrick," Blaine agreed. "Or like anything else I've ever sung, really. I like it, though. I like all of it."

"You're good at all of it. You can sing rock or quiet things or swing or  _a cappella_  or — or choir stuff, right?" Finn shook his head. "I pretty much have one trick."

"Yeah, but it really works," Blaine said emphatically. There was an awkward pause. He laughed, embarrassed. "I mean… you're good at what you do."

"It's okay. I don't need more than one trick. know I'm not the super-talented one. I'm not a great football player either, but somehow I still got to be quarterback as a sophomore. I'm still not sure what Coach was thinking when he picked me."

Blaine blushed. "I think he was thinking,  _this guy knows how to lead other people."_

"I'm trying, anyway. And I'm kind of figuring out this musician business. I didn't do any of it before Glee club this year."

It was Blaine's turn to look admiring. "That's amazing."

"I still need a lot of help with understanding all the music." Finn stretched out his toes. "Back when I was younger, my mom dated this guy for a while? Darren. I barely remember anything about him, other than he had a lawn business and he used to let me help. He told me I had talent. At singing, I mean. That was the first time I really thought it might be possible for me to do that, to  _be_  that. But I didn't do anything with music until this year, I guess because I was so busy. And I was worried people were going to think I was stupid for wanting to." He grinned at Blaine. "At least I got over that."

"That's amazing all by itself," said Blaine.

"Anyway. I can't really read music, but K— my boyfriends, they're both really good at a whole bunch of stuff. Instruments, writing music, everything."

Blaine nodded. "There are lots of guys in the Warblers like that: multitalented, really polished and poised."

"Well, you're like that," said Finn.

"You really think so?" He didn't get how Blaine could look  _surprised._

"Hell, yeah. Carl thinks so too. You're, like, a professional."

"I'm not. I'm just…" Blaine was blushing so hard, Finn almost felt bad he'd brought it up.

"Blaine, come on. You're like the quarterback of the Warblers. You know they wouldn't have picked you if you weren't able to sing all that different stuff." He touched Blaine's leg. "I've never heard you sing choir stuff. Do you still sing really high like that, when you sing in the boy choir?"

"No, they don't make the boys with changed voices sing falsetto, not like that." He was staring down at his lap. Finn moved his hand to rest on Blaine's knee.

"You really need me to tell you how awesome you are?"

Blaine kept his eyes on his hands. He spoke haltingly. "I think — that might be the whole point of why we do this, Finn. That I don't know —  _anything_  about myself. I've been performing all my life, piano and guitar and singing, and I can get on stage and do my thing, but if people tell me how I did, I can't see it. It's like I have this big blind spot, looking at myself? And if anybody ever told me I was talented or great or good-looking or anything, I was able to… to pretend. To pretend I heard them, to say thank you and be gracious. I could even pretend to be proud of myself."

"But you're not?"

Blaine shook his head.

"Even when I tell you?"

Blaine paused, biting his lip, then shook his head again. "I think I'm a little broken that way."

Finn reached out and arranged Blaine's shoulders until he was facing him directly. Blaine let himself be moved, but he didn't look into Finn's face until Finn reached out and tipped Blaine's chin up, up toward his.

"I know when you can hear me."

Blaine closed his eyes and nodded.

"Look at me." The command was quiet, but Blaine opened his eyes immediately and looked at him. His eyes were wet, but he didn't look away. "You can hear me after I break you down."

He nodded again. "I still don't know what that says about me. But... yeah, I can. Somehow you knew that?"

"Because it works that way for my other boy. The one who's… away." Finn took a breath. He wasn't going to say how good Blaine looked right now, the way his eyes glimmered, how his whole body was attuned to everything Finn said. Blaine didn't need to hear that from him. But Finn could tell him the other things. "Are you scared you're never going to be proud of yourself?"

Blaine shook his head. "I'm scared I'm never going to be able to tell you I am. Because you want me to be, and I'm trying, I promise. But… I can't lie to you. So that means I need to tell you how I  _really_  feel, and that's…" He swallowed. "I'm ashamed of not being good enough."

"You are good enough, Blaine."

He gave Finn a rueful smile. "I think you actually believe that now, but… I'm fooling you somehow into thinking I am? And eventually you'll figure out what's really going on."

"And then I'll change my mind?"

Blaine nodded. "Around you, I don't want to pretend to be good enough when I don't feel like I am. But I'm pretty sure that'll chase you away eventually. Nobody wants a crybaby."

Finn was silent for a moment. He sat up and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, beckoning Blaine to move with him. Blaine didn't hesitate; he just unfastened his pants and took them down to his knees, crawling to rest on Finn's lap. He figured there would never be a time when this  _wasn't_  awkward, but neither of them appeared to care.

He stroked Blaine's back, like he was comforting him - even though Blaine had been the one to comfort him, today. He did feel comforted.

"Blaine," he said. He watched Blaine shudder a little at the sound of his own name. "I'm going to tell you to cry, okay? And I don't mean you should pretend. I just mean, if you need to cry, do that. You can be loud and messy and nobody's going to tell you not to. And I—" He stopped himself before he said the words that came to his tongue,  _I love you no matter what you do._  He sat there listening to the words in his head in shock.

"Finn?" Blaine said softly.

"I'm — excuse me, I'm okay." He steadied himself, putting his hand on Blaine's bare behind. "You're going to listen to me tell you I'm proud of you, and you're a good boy, and you're going to try to let it in as best as you can. And — this is really important — you're not going to beat yourself up for not being able to do it."

Blaine nodded. "I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking. Thank you."

He always watched Blaine for the pacing of the spanking, how hard, how much at one time or in one place, but today he paid more attention to his face than the way his body was squirming or the sounds he was making. He watched Blaine struggling so hard to do just what Finn had told him. It hurt his heart a little to see it.

"Stop trying," he said.

"To do what?" Blaine protested.

"To be  _good."_ He'd never wished for a paddle more than he did right at that moment. "To be anything at all. You don't have to  _try._  I'm not going anywhere, no matter what you do."

After that, Blaine's face relaxed. He didn't quite close his eyes, but he let them go unfocused. He looked like he was in a trance.

When Finn stopped, he remained quiet on Finn's lap, his breathing even and slow.

"Blaine?"

As soon as Blaine curled into Finn's body and put his arms around his waist, Finn gathered him up, supporting Blaine's weight as much as he could. Now  _he_  was the one murmuring the meaningless words of support. Blaine stayed calm and relaxed as Finn helped him lie down.

"That was so good," Finn said. "When you stopped trying. You listened so well to what I said. My good boy."

Now Blaine's eyes really were closed. He smiled sleepily. "Fooled you again, huh?"

"Yep. That's right." Finn grinned. "You're very convincing. I have to get going, but… thanks. For talking. I feel a lot better."

"Me too."

That was the most amazing thing of all, but he wasn't going to question it, because it really did seem to be true. He just wanted to hold Blaine until they both fell asleep, but he'd promised too many people he would go home. He stood up, picked up his bag and went to the door.

Finn listened to the Pretenders album again on the way home, and this time he knew more of the words. He sang as many as he could, as loud and as well as he could manage, and when he got to the seventh track, he sang that one too.

Then he called Puck. There was no answer, but Finn didn't expect there to be. He just left a voice mail. "Hey. This might seem, like, a little out of the blue, but I just want you to know how proud I am of you. I don't know if I told you that recently or not. I'm always thinking it."

He let himself in by the side door when he got to Carl's. The kitchen was empty and quiet, but he wasn't going to worry about that tonight. He went right up to Carl's second floor den, where he usually watched television, but Carl wasn't there. He paused in the hallway, looking first toward the west wing where Carl's personal rooms were, and then back the other direction, toward the scene rooms.

"Hello?" he called.

There was no answer. The lights were on, though, and Finn thought he could hear some faint music. He went down to Carl's bedroom and pushed open the door.

Carl was lying on his bed, a book lolling on his chest, which rose and fell with each breath. He was half-propped up by pillows, but he'd slid down far enough that his shoulders were cradled by the cushions. He made a little snorty noise as he breathed, not quite a snore, but almost. Finn grinned.

He kicked off his shoes, climbed up on the bed next to him and edged in against him, gingerly resting his head on Carl's chest. He waited until he was sure Carl wasn't waking up before relaxing entirely. Then he closed his eyes.

* * *

 

_<http://youtu.be/2wSKCcXaWPQ> _

_Here in the dark, I won't even make a spark._   
_You're the only one who's never seen_   
_The way I can light up in shades of gold and green._   
_I'm just a little firefly, I want to shine for you but I'm too shy,_   
_So when you come around I hide my light.  
_ _But when you go away I shine for you all night._

 

_Out there in the sun, I'd open up for anyone._   
_You're the only one who closes me_   
_Because I want to be the brightest thing you've ever seen._   
_I'm just a little dandelion, I want to blossom but I'm scared of trying,_   
_So I hide my head when you come into the room.  
_ _But when you go away I come right into bloom._

_And I can't look down, I'm way too high,  
_ _And I can't look up, into your eyes._

_Well I never was afraid to sing out loud, in front of anybody, any crowd._   
_You, you make me lose my nerve_   
_Feel like something more than I could ever deserve._   
_I'm just a little hummingbird, I want to sing but I can't find the words,_   
_So when you come around I just go still_   
_But after you move on, when I know you're gone,  
_ _Then I sing for you the way I always will._

_\- Kris Delmhorst, "Hummingbird"_

* * *

Kurt tried for a third time to refocus on his creative writing project when his phone buzzed with a text. He let himself look at it. It was from Dave.

_You got a minute? This thing happened, and I wasn't sure who to tell._

While he was staring at it, trying to figure out how to respond, another text came.

_You can ignore this if it's too weird._

_It's fine,_  Kurt replied.  _I'm about to give up on my homework anyway. Do I need a content warning?_

_Nothing like that,_ Dave replied.  _But I hate talking on the phone, but I'm not sure I can type fast enough to text about it._

Kurt was already standing up.  _I could meet you somewhere, but I don't have a car right now._ He hesitated for a moment before adding,  _You know where Schoonover Park is?_

_Yeah, I know. I've been going there to look at the stars since I was a kid. You sure?_

_I'll be there in ten minutes._

It wasn't all that warm now that the sun had gone down. Kurt found his blue sweater in the front closet and told his dad, "I'm taking a walk."

Sarah intercepted him in the front hallway. "Can I come?"

"Sorry," he said. "I'm not sure the boy I'm meeting is ready for little sisters."

"You're meeting a  _boy?"_  She put on a mock-shocked look. Kurt laughed.

"He's just a friend, but he's a little shy."

He knew that  _shy_ wasn't quite the right word for what Dave was. He couldn't really call him  _closeted_  anymore.  _Ashamed,_  probably, but Kurt couldn't judge him for that. He thought about it on his walk to the park until he settled on a word that fit.

"Disingenuous," Kurt called, when he saw Dave sitting on the rim of the abandoned well on the peninsula. Dave raised an eyebrow, his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket.

"Is it SAT word practice? Okay, I'll bite. Disingenuous, adjective. Insincere or pretending to know things you don't know."

"Or pretending not to know things you do." Kurt sat down beside Dave. "Not being yourself."

"I wouldn't call that disingenuous."

Kurt waited for more, but Dave didn't say anything. "So what is it?" he prompted.

Dave gave him a humorless smile. "Survival."

He nodded slowly. "And now?"

"Now what? Nothing's changed."

"No?" Kurt cocked his head. Dave looked away. "You really don't think you're any different?"

"No, Kurt. I'm the same. Just because you suddenly have more information doesn't change who I am. Who I always was. You think you know me?"

"No, but for the first time ever, I actually want to. I'd say that's different."

Dave stood up, restlessly smoothing his hands over his pants. "This was a mistake. I shouldn't have bothered."

"Hey, don't tell me I came all this way for nothing?" Kurt nudged him with his foot, and Dave reluctantly sat back down. "I'm kidding. I live seven blocks south of here."

"Yeah, I know."

That was a surprise. "You know?"

Dave shrugged. "You and Finn and Puck tell me you're all under one roof, yeah, I'm gonna find out where. I don't think most people know, though. There was a lot of speculation after Puck's mom died. Some people said he was living by himself."

"He was. But not anymore, not since Beth was born."

Dave's eyes still hadn't landed. He stared across the lake at the trees. "Mike, uh. He told me what was up with Finn today, why he was acting so off today."

"What did he say?"

"That Puck and the baby got sent out of town. Is he giving her up?"

" _No."_  Kurt hadn't meant that to come out so outraged. Dave flinched a little. "No. He's kind of getting a crash course in being a dad. He's staying with some friends of ours, and his—my—" Kurt realized he was going to cry. "Our other boyfriend. Until school's out."

Dave reacted to the tears with more anxious distress than even Finn ever had. "Fuck. Don't do that."

"Sorry, you can tell me that all you want, but I've never been very good at following other people's directions." He attempted to compose himself. "I don't need to hog the spotlight. You had something you wanted to tell me today."

Dave leaned his elbows on his knees, still keeping an eye on everything other than Kurt. "Yeah. It's just, I got some good news in the mail. About what I'm doing this summer."

"Which is what?"

"Space camp." He said it in an exhalation, then smiled. "It's a month-long program, starting in June."

"Space camp?" Kurt wasn't quite sure he had the right associations in his head. "Like the eighties movie? You're not actually going  _into_ space, are you?"

"I wish. But it'll be a huge point in my favor when I'm applying for colleges. University of Chicago has a great astrophysics program. If I can't get into MIT or Princeton, I'll probably end up there. So, yeah, you train for a mission in space, and you learn all kinds of stuff. It's awesome."

Kurt wasn't sure what to do with any of this information. He tried to make it ordinary, to fit with what he already knew about Dave Karofsky, but it was hard to know what to believe. "I hadn't realized you and I were both vying for valedictorian."

"Whatever it takes to get out of this shit town. I pretty much spend all my free time studying. It's not like I have a social life."

He could see Dave beginning to fold into the stony anger of the first half of the year. It was so different from Puck's recklessness that Kurt almost didn't recognize it for what it was. Kurt grabbed his arm hard enough to make Dave jump.

"You're not going to do that to yourself anymore," said Kurt.

"Do what? I'm just being honest."

"You're not going to bury yourself under somebody else's rules."

"Yeah? Haven't you been paying attention to what happens to gay kids who get noticed in Ohio? Or Nebraska, or Wyoming, or Iowa, or fucking Baltimore." Dave looked more pissed than scared, but Kurt knew how that felt. "You read about Jason Mattison? In November?"

"Dave, tell me you're actually worried about a hate crime targeting you. I mean, look at your hands. You could snap an average linebacker in half."

Dave flushed. "Thanks. I already feel enough like a freak."

"Oh, come on. Don't give me that. You're popular. Girls apparently think you're cute." Kurt saw what looked like a small smile. He dared to poke Dave, who laughed, dodging his finger. "They're always hanging around you."

"That's because I do their homework for them."

Kurt sighed. "Dave… okay, yes. The world is a scary place. I have moments of terror when I walk into a new place or notice unfriendly eyes on me."  _Or get shoved into my locker,_  he wasn't going to say. "But there can be degrees of openness, just as there can be degrees of self-promotion. I dress the way I dress for  _me,_  not to make a statement… but that doesn't imply I'm not ever going to make a statement. Sometimes it's worth it."

Dave shook his head in apparent incredulity, looking Kurt up and down. Nothing he was wearing was particularly ostentatious, but he was aware that the tailoring and the color choices were just going to make him stand out. "I have to wonder what  _making a statement_  might look like in your world, Kurt."

"What about joining the Cheerios?"

"Mmmm. Or Puck with the eyeliner?"

"Oh — no." He laughed. "That wasn't a statement. It was mostly a jab at Finn. And a comment on his — our — boyfriend."

"The mysterious one. Whatever, I won't ask."

"You can  _ask_  anything you want. I might not have a whole answer."

Dave shook his head. "So who's hiding now?"

"I'm doing plenty of hiding, trust me, but it's all on behalf of other people."  _Sarah. Puck. My dad. Adam._

"You hate it, though. I don't feel that way. I'd rather hide than deal with everybody shitting all over the things that are important to me. Or pretending to care about them. I don't  _want_  everybody to know who I am."

"I'm not saying you have to be like me," said Kurt. "I'm saying sometimes you have to be real with somebody. Maybe it's not going to be me. That's up to you."

Dave pressed his fingers together, hard enough that the tips turned white. "I had a friend once. I wish I could have called him and told him about space camp."

"You're really looking forward to this."

Dave smiled again. "Yeah. I've been applying every year since seventh grade. Honestly? I think it was talking about the  _Single Ladies_  dance in my essay that did it this year."

" _David."_  Kurt pushed him hard on his shoulder, astonished. "You wrote about that?"

"They love thinking outside the box. And winning."

He watched Dave's face for a long minute, looking up at the stars. "Someday you'll have to tell me what winning look like to you."

Dave nodded. "Deal."


End file.
